On July 8, 2026, AFC completed the financing delivery of Türkiye's Aksa Energy's 119MW thermal power project in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and issued the first 60 million dollars of the 300 million dollar corporate loan line. This fuel powered power station project targeting the local electricity gap is bringing new variables to the energy supply pattern of landlocked countries in West Africa.

20-year guaranteed purchase of electricity to lock in long-term cash flow

The project is scheduled to be put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2026, and complete operational contributions will begin in 2027. Aksa Energy has signed a 20-year guaranteed purchase agreement with Burkina Faso's state-owned power company, and the long-term foreign currency denominated contract framework has greatly improved the predictability of project cash flow, reducing the evaluation threshold for overseas capital to enter the West African inland market.

This type of dispatchable thermal power project precisely fills the short-term capacity gap caused by the long development cycle of local wind and solar resources and insufficient grid connection support, and can quickly provide stable power support for the industrial and commercial loads in the capital and surrounding areas.

Balancing the costs and risks behind local energy supplementation

Burkina Faso currently relies on imports for nearly 60% of its electricity. In 2024, a nationwide power outage in Ghana led to widespread power restrictions, resulting in a national electricity access rate of only 21.7% and an annual per capita electricity consumption of less than 140 kilowatt hours.

After the new power station is put into operation, it can directly increase the proportion of local power generation by about 20 percentage points, significantly reducing the risk of power outages caused by external power fluctuations. But the project will also transform the original pressure of electricity imports into new operational variables such as fuel procurement, inland transportation, and foreign exchange settlement. Whether it can ultimately achieve lower power system costs still depends on the implementation effect of subsequent fuel price adjustments and grid payment mechanisms.Editor/Cheng Liting