The African Development Bank has provided a financial modeling training to staff of the government of Chad, helping prepare the national utility as part of Desert to Power interventions in the country.
Desert to Power is a flagship programme of the African Development Bank: it aims to light up and power the Sahel region by adding 10 GW of solar generation capacity, providing electricity to around 250 million people in 11 Sahelian countries.
Staff members of Chad's Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economy, National Utility Company, Electricity Regulatory Authority and Agency for the Development of Renewable Energies and Energy Management attended the training, held in Mara, Chad on 15th to 19th of August.
The training enabled participants to take ownership of two technical-financial models developed by the Desert to Power taskforce in August 2021.
Participants learned to conduct several financial processes involving solar independent power projects. These included gaining an understanding of how to negotiate the purchase price of energy produced by such projects and analyze the financial relevance of unsolicited bids for solar IPP projects.
Alifei Djirab Mbodou, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, who took part in the training said: "The training is a real opportunity for Chad. It gave us the tools to measure the financial performance of the sector and to better negotiate transfer prices of energy contracts. We hope that the Bank will continue to organize such trainings to help officials in the energy sector to master planning tools."
The Bank organized the training following a request from the national utility made in June last year. The training aligns with Desert to Power national roadmap for Chad. The roadmap, developed by the African Development Bank, identifies major projects that will enable the country to pool its resources to develop a stable and flexible electricity grid, including large-scale solar generation to serve its population.
Dr. Daniel Schroth, the Bank's Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency said, "I commend the officials that attended the training. Their participation underscores the Bank's commitment, through the Desert to Power Taskforce, to accompanying the Government of Chad in effectively implementing the DtP national roadmap through investment projects, technical assistance and capacity building efforts."