Chad has reached financial close on a €37.9 million solar-plus-storage project near N’Djamena, bringing two hybrid plants developed by French independent power producer Qair closer to construction and operation. The Gassi and Lamadji plants will combine 30 MWp of solar PV with 8 MW/8 MWh of battery storage and are expected to generate about 65 GWh of electricity a year, enough to supply roughly 260,000 people. The projects are designed to reduce the capital’s dependence on diesel-based generation while adding more stable renewable power to the national grid.
The projects are being developed under a framework agreement with the Republic of Chad and are backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with national utility Tchadelec. They will connect to the 90 kV N’Djamena loop, giving the new generation a direct route into the capital’s electricity system. The combination of a long-term PPA, grid connection and defined project structure provides the revenue framework required for lenders to finance the plants.
The financing itself is built around several layers of capital and risk protection. The African Development Bank is providing a senior loan of about €15.2 million, matched by a similar €15.2 million loan from Proparco. The package also includes a €6 million reimbursable grant from the AfDB-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa and €1.5 million in supplementary Proparco/AFD funding. An €8 million partial risk guarantee will cover specified payment obligations under the PPA, addressing one of the key risks for investors in a market such as Chad.
That structure is significant because renewable projects in the Sahel face a different financing challenge from simply having strong solar resources. Investors must assess political and regulatory conditions as well as the ability of state-owned utilities to meet their contractual payment obligations. By combining senior development-finance loans with concessional funding and a guarantee, the transaction distributes those risks across several institutions and makes the project financeable without relying entirely on conventional commercial debt.
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The two plants are also part of the African Development Bank’s Desert to Power programme, which aims to develop up to 10 GW of solar capacity across the Sahel. Their importance therefore extends beyond the 30 MWp being added in Chad: financial close provides a reference for how solar, storage and limited-recourse project finance can be structured in other high-risk markets. The next test will be construction and operation, and whether the same financing architecture can be applied to larger projects and additional solar-plus-storage investments across the region.
