The Rural Renewable Energy Project (RREP) is a first of its kind in scale and scope in Sierra Leone and regionally in Sub-Saharan Africa, implemented by the Ministry of Energy with support from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and grant funded by DFID. The project will contribute to Sierra Leone’s economic development through increased access to electricity in rural areas while simultaneously reducing Sierra Leone’s future Green House Gas emissions.
This project aims to establish an enabling environment in Sierra Leone for a private sector driven rural mini-grid market and to provide up to 5MW of sustainable renewable power in rural community households, priority institutions, such as Community Health Centers (CHCs), schools, agricultural business centers and other productive uses, as well as chiefdom administrative offices, through solar mini-grids, based on a Public-Private Partnership approach. It is estimated that the RREP will connect approximately 360,000 direct beneficiaries in rural Sierra Leone to electricity, with a further 500,000 indirectly benefiting from access to low carbon electricity.
In Sierra
Leone, the Rural Renewable Energy Project (RREP), a DFID-funded project, is collaborating
with the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) to supply up to 5 MW of sustainable
renewable electricity in rural communities through installations of at least 94
solar mini-grids to be operated and managed by private sector partners.
The
implementation of the project is developed around five Work Packages (WP):
Work package 1 / 1+:
6kWp solar photovoltaic (PV) generation plants at 54 Community Health Centers
(CHCs) were installed between April and July 2017. These generation plants were
then extended into small mini-grids with a capacity between 16kW and 36kW and
distribution networks installed which will eventually connect all other public
institutions and households in 50 of these communities. All 50 mini-grids are
installed and ready for operation as of October 2018.
Work package 2: aims to bring the country’s
photovoltaic (PV) power generation capacity up to 5MW by attracting the private
sector to invest in the mini-grid market while drawing on the lessons of WP
1/1+. WP2 will install mini-grids in additional 40 communities with >36kW
systems (up to max. 200kWp) using sustainable business and delivery models
developed by the private sector.
Private
sector operators have been selected through a competitive tender process, and
will take on operation and maintenance of WP1/1+ mini-grids and co-invest in
the development of the WP2 sites. The operators will be responsible for the
last mile connection to identified customers and the in-house wiring of
customer homes.
Work package 3: provides Technical Assistance (TA)
and institutional capacity building to the Ministry of Energy, the Electricity
and Water Regulatory Commission, other relevant government agencies as
necessary, as well as to private sector companies selected to operate WP1 sites
and co-invest in and operate WP2 sites.
Work Package 5: This work package focus majorly on
the Monitoring and Evaluation function. An M&E Plan including Impact
Evaluation design will be developed for learning and accountability.
Work Package 6: Private sector development. Through
this work package, RREP seeks to develop a private sector engagement and
strengthening strategy, underpinned by a keen understanding of local market
systems, to promote productive use economies in mini‐grid catchment areas; supporting
both the commercial viability of the privately operated mini‐grids.
In its two years
of implementation, RREP has installed 50 mini-grids. These installations will
be expanded in capacity throughout the life of the project to 2020, with 44
additional installations. The RREP mini-grid sites are poised to be hubs of new
and improved economic activities generating better employment opportunities and
incomes and fostering greater social and economic welfare for communities