Representatives of the Russian state nuclear power firm Rosatom are on a working visit to Burkina Faso, discussing plans to construct a nuclear power plant in one of the world’s least electrified nations.
The team arrived in the West African nation on Tuesday and held talks with representatives of the Burkinabe Energy Ministry, local media reported.
During the four-day visit, Ouagadougou’s energy minister, Yacouba Zabré Gouba, said discussions with the Rosatom delegation would focus on technical issues, and creating the conditions for the project to start.
“The nuclear power plant is essential for us because we believe that energy is a lever on which the country can acquire its real sovereignty in energy matters,” Gouba said during the meeting, according to the African Initiative news website.
As of 2022, only 19.5% of Burkina Faso’s population had access to electricity, according to the World Bank. The landlocked country with over 20 million people has power generation capacity of 420 megawatts, with its energy mix dominated by fossil fuels.
Last October, the Sahel state signed an agreement with Rosatom to build a nuclear power plant, following a request made by its interim leader, Ibrahim Traore, to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.
On Tuesday, energy minister Gouba stated that the Burkinabe government was “pinning much hope” on the Rosatom team’s visit, which will allow the country to deal with its “energy realities.”
“We cannot give an exact date for the completion of this plant but we will do everything to deliver the plant as soon as possible,” Rosatom chief engineer Alexander Renev was quoted as saying.
The project in Burkina Faso is not the first that the Russian state company is working on in the Sahel region. In May, Mali’s Energy Ministry announced the construction of a 200 megawatt (MW) solar power plant near the capital, Bamako, by NovaWind – the wind energy division of Rosatom. NovaWind’s director, Grigory Nazarov, said the facility, which will cost $217 million, will increase the country’s electricity production by 10%.