AFRICA: ECOWAS Planning Support and Capacity Building for Battery storage

PPIAF support was requested to assess the private sector participation to support investment and operation of the Battery storage in the ECOWAS system. A technical report about the process of deploying a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project under the various options of PPP arrangements and guidelines to implement BESS under PPP arrangements were produced under this TA. 
The guidelines cover the key considerations in identifying, assessing, structuring, preparing, and implementing PPPs using BESS technologies. They aim to provide a framework that helps unlock future BESS projects, leveraging private capital. A comparative analysis of the various types of batteries, analyses on the impact of batteries on the power system (efficiency, voltage plan, dynamic stability, etc.), a single-wire scheme for BESS was conducted.
Series of BESS training in specific topics about the BESS, Operational and Maintenance, and Environmental and Social issues were also delivered, and main beneficiaries include ECOWAS, WAPP, and utilities from Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Niger.
 Based on the results of the technical assistance, the World Bank has approved a project to install 205 MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to provide frequency control to the WAPP power system. The equipment will be installed in three substations in Cote d’Ivoire (105 MWh), one in Mali (80 MWh), and one in Niger (20 MWh). The best locations and capacity for the three countries (Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Niger) have been determined by specific studies prepared by DNV-GL Consultants and confirmed by the study prepared by GOPA under this activity.
This technical assistance could be replicated in all the other 15 countries of ECOWAS and applied to all the other power pools in Africa and beyond.