The much-talked-about West African Power Pool finally came alive on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
This was when President Akufo-Addo in his capacity as Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) together with the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, commissioned the 330KV West African Power Pool North Core Interconnection.
The project which was constructed with US$568.2 million is expected to boost the electricity supply between Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo.
The North Core project is a 330 kV transmission line from Birnin Kebbi (Nigeria) to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) through Zabori (Niger) and Niamey (Niger) with T-off to Malanville (Benin).
*Project*
The scope of this aid was first to update the feasibility study financed by the four involved utilities in 2007 and prepare functional bidding documents for the construction of a 330 kV transmission line from Birnin Kebbi (Nigeria) to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) through Niamey (Niger) with T-with T-off to Malanville (Benin).
It is also intended to update the Line Route and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) studies of the line as proposed in the feasibility study.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent