Lekela gets US grant for battery storage study in Senegal

Africa-focused renewables company Lekela has obtained grant financing to explore the feasibility for installing batteries at the site of a 158.7-MW wind farm in Senegal.

The funding will be provided by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), Lekela said on Tuesday without giving information about its exact amount. The money will support a 10-month assessment that Lekela will carry out in partnership with national utility Senelec for what could be Senegal’s first grid-scale battery storage system.

The facility is proposed to be installed at Lekela’s Parc Eolien Taiba N’Diaye wind farm, which is partly operational and will be fully commissioned at end-2020. It will be the largest one in West Africa after going live.

The study will seek to provide technical, economic, legal and environmental analysis for the battery project, focusing on options to enhance grid stability and integrate intermittent renewable energy into the national power grid. “If successful, this project has the potential to catapult Senegal to the forefront of renewable energy usage in modern day grids,” said Lekela’s CEO Chris Antonopoulos.

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