Monday 29 October 2018

EDF buys 50% stake in off-grid firm’s Togo unit

French utility EDF has bought a 50% stake in an off-grid company’s business unit in Togo.

It has signed an agreement with BBOXX to develop and market solutions for access to off-grid electricity in the West African nation.

Their project will contribute to the government’s rural electrification programme, called CIZO, which aims to supply solar home systems – which include solar panels with batteries to store electricity - to more than 500,000 households by 2030.

EDF will provide its technical know-how to improve battery performance and has set a target to develop storage capacity of 10GW worldwide by 2035.

BBOXX has been operating in the Togolese market since 2017 and has already supplied power to 26,000 consumers - the two partners are aiming for a market share of 35% in Togo by 2024.

Valerie Levkov, EDF’s Senior Vice President in charge of Africa and the Middle East said: “By teaming up with BBOXX in Togo, the EDF Group has embarked on a new stage of development of its off-grid activities in Africa, which has been constantly speeded up since our Ivory Coast subsidiary, Zeci, was set up less than two years ago.

“We are proud to work with a partner like BBOXX, which shares our commitment to low carbon energies. The partnership that has just been set up fits in with the EDF strategy CAP 2030, whose main purpose is to triple our activities outside Europe.”