Located near the Mauritanian border on the shore of the Senegal River, Société des Cultures Légumières (SCL) is a successful export-oriented farm, which due to its cost-sensitive activity had to find a more economic and stable electricity supply to power its irrigation and cooling systems.

This is where GRIPS Energy’s offer made all the difference: the German renewable energy expert and contractor oversaw the project from start to finish. GRIPS carried out an initial feasibility study, tailored the plant design to SCL’s needs and offered a customised contract adapted to its client’s objectives. As a result, GRIPS and its local partner installed a 603,52 kWp photovoltaic (PV) system towards the end of 2022, which currently covers around half of SCL’s power needs. GRIPS will keep maintaining the PV plant in the long-term throughout the contract duration to ensure top performance. While SCL continues to focus on growing sweet corn, green beans, peppers, squashes and onions, the farm has already cut its CO2-footprint by around 300t per year, and at the same time reduced its electricity bills.

Meanwhile, GRIPS took care of the technical aspects of the project. It carefully selected project components that fit the arid environment – the farm is located close to the Sahel region and the land would not be arable without a modern irrigation system pumping water from the dam river in Diama. From the mounting structure to the sizing and layout of the PV system, GRIPS tailored the project specifically to its client’s needs and for smallest possible CO2 emissions.

This project, inaugurated in May 2023 by the German Ambassador to Senegal Mr. Sönke Siemon, has been so successful that discussions are underway to expand the capacity of the PV plant and to install further ones on other SCL sites, potentially combining them with efficient solar pumps and/or a storage system. In order to help GRIPS support the energy transition in West Africa by implementing similar projects for other commercial clients, the German energy solutions initiative has assisted the Berlin-based company in marketing activities, aiming to help GRIPS gain a foothold in Senegal beyond this demonstration project.

With the RES programme, the German Energy Solutions Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) supports German companies in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors enter new markets. Within the framework of the programme, reference plants are installed and marketed with the support of the German Energy Agency (dena). Information and training activities help ensure a sustainable market entry and demonstrate the quality of climate-friendly technologies made in Germany.