REG - Savannah Energy Plc - Agreement signed for Niger’s first wind farm

Savannah EnergyAnnouncement

29/03/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220329:nRSc3625Ga&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 3625G  Savannah Energy Plc  29 March 2022

29 March 2022

 

Savannah Energy PLC

("Savannah" or "the Company")

 

Agreement signed with Niger Government for country's first wind farm

 

Parc Eolien de la Tarka expected to be one of the largest wind farms in Africa

 

Savannah Energy PLC, the British independent energy company focused around
the delivery of Projects that Matter in Africa, is pleased to announce its
inaugural renewable energy project, having signed an agreement ("the
 Agreement") yesterday with the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable
Energies of the Republic of Niger for the construction and operation of the
country's first wind farm, with a proposed installed power generation capacity
of up to 250 megawatts ("MW") on an independent power producer ("IPP") basis
in the Tahoua Region of Southern Niger(the "Project").

 

The proposed wind farm project, Parc Eolien de la Tarka, is expected to be
owned by a subsidiary of Savannah, Savannah Parc Eolien de la Tarka ("SPET"),
and to consist of up to 60 wind turbines with a total power generation
capacity of up to 250 MW. The initial phase of the Project will see SPET carry
out a24-month feasibility study which will include an assessment to confirm
the wind conditions and an assessment as to how the generated power would be
incorporated into the national and regional electricity grids.  The project
is expected to take advantage of the development of the West African Power
Pool ("WAPP"), a high voltage interconnection network allowing power exchanges
between countries in the region and increased grid stability.  Niger is
scheduled to be connected to the WAPP in 2023 via a 330 kV line financed by
the World Bank, the African Development Bank ("AdB"), the European Union and
the Agence Française de Développement (AfD").

 

Subject to the planned feasibility study confirming the ultimate scale of the
Project, Parc Eolien de la Tarka is expected to produce up to 600 gigawatt
hours per year of electricity. The construction phase of the Project is
expected to create over 500 jobs, while the Project has the potential to
reduce the cost of electricity for Nigeriens and avoid over an estimated
400,000 tonnes of CO(2) emissions annually 1  (#_ftn1) .  Parc Eolien de la
Tarka is also intended to be capable of exporting power to neighbouring
countries at competitive tariffs and would significantly diversify Niger's
energy mix. The Project is expected to be sanctioned in in 2023, with first
power generation in 2025.

 

Savannah expects to fund the Project from a combination of its own internally
generated cashflows and project specific debt.

 

Sani Mahamadou, Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energies, of the
Republic of Niger, said:

 

"I am delighted to announce our plans today for the development of Parc Eolien
de la Tarka. This is a truly transformational project for Niger, potentially
increasing the country's on-grid power generation capacity significantly. Such
a project is expected to stimulate a significant increase in economic activity
across our country, directly and indirectly creating thousands of jobs over
the course of the next decade.

 

Today's announcement follows His Excellency President Mohamed Bazoum's
undertaking at COP 26 last year to develop significant new green sources of
energy for Niger. It once again demonstrates the seriousness to which the
Government of Niger takes the commitments we make to the international
community. I would also like to thank Savannah - a long-term investment and
operating partner for Niger - for proposing and creating this project and
state that our Government will provide Savannah and their financing partners
our full support to enable this project to deliver first wind power for Niger
by 2025."

 

Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Energy, said:

"Savannah is passionately focused around delivering Projects that Matter in
Africa. Parc Eolien de la Tarka is a prime example of our vision in action.
The independent studies conducted to date indicate the Tahoua region of Niger
to have a world class wind resource. The Project is expected to harness this
resource and generate highly competitive, clean, indigenous power for Niger.
Parc Eolien de la Tarka will see the country's on-grid power generation
capacity potentially increase by over 40%. Academic study after academic study
has shown the relationship between power consumption, income levels and life
expectancy to be well understood: the higher a country's per capita power
consumption, the higher both GDP per capita and human life expectancy are
expected to be. Parc Eolien de la Tarka is therefore a critical project for
the development of Niger, which we expect to make a significant contribution
to improving the lives of its people.

I would like to thank the Government of Niger, and Minister Sani Mahamadou in
particular, and the iger National Utility Company, NIGELEC, for the strong
support we have received in bringing our vision of the Parc Eolien de la Tarka
to life. We look forward to working with the Government and our developmental
finance partners over the course of the coming years as we move through the
feasibility and construction phases of the project to our intended first wind
date in 2025.

Parc Eolien de la Tarka represents the first of several large scale greenfield
renewable energy projects that Savannah expects to announce over the course of
the next 12 months."

 

For further information, please refer to the Company's
website www.savannah-energy.com (http://www.savannah-energy.com/)  or
contact:

 

 Savannah Energy                                                                       +44 (0) 20 3817 9844
 Andrew Knott, CEO
 Nick Beattie, Interim CFO
 Sally Marshak, Head of IR & Communications

 Strand Hanson (Nominated Adviser)                                                     +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
 James Spinney
 Ritchie Balmer
 Rob Patrick

 finnCap Ltd (Joint                                                                    +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
 Broker)

 Christopher Raggett

 Tim Redfern

 Panmure Gordon (UK) Ltd (Joint                                                        +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
 Broker)

 John Prior

 Hugo Rich

 James Sinclair-Ford

 Camarco                                                                               +44 (0) 20 3757 4983

 Billy Clegg

 Owen Roberts

 Violet Wilson

 

The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside
information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse
Regulation No. 596/2014, and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's
obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

 

About Savannah Energy:

 

Savannah Energy PLC is an AIM listed British independent energy company
focused around the delivery of Projects that Matter in Africa and is active
in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

 

Further information on Savannah Energy PLC can be found on the Company's
website: www.savannah-energy.com (http://www.savannah-energy.com/) .

 1  (#_ftnref1) Calculation based on European Investment Bank (EIB) Project
Carbon Footprint Methodologies, Methodologies for the Assessment of Project
GHG Emissions and Emission Variations, July 2020.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  AGRSEDSIUEESELD