Sahofika Hydroelectric Power Station, also referred to as Sahofika Power Station, is a hydroelectric power station under construction in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Location

The power station is located across the

Onive River The Onive River is a river in eastern Madagascar. It flows down from the Ankaratra massif, and is the largest tributary of the Mangoro River.Campbell, GwynnDavid Griffiths and the Missionary "History of Madagascar" p. 488–89 (Brill Publishers, ...

, approximately , outside of the capital city of

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

Overview

The power station is the largest electricity generation project in Madagascar. The dam will be high, creating a reservoir with a surface area of . From the reservoir, water will flow through a pipeline that measures long to arrive at the power house. The power house comprises seven turbines, each rated at 29.3 megawatts, for a total output of 205 megawatts. The power generated at this power plant will be evacuated via a new 220 kiloVolts high voltage transmission line to a location where

Jirama Jirama (''Jiro sy rano malagasy'') is a state-owned electric utility and water services company in Madagascar. History The Jirama was established on 17 October 1975 when the Société Malagasy des Eaux et Electricité and the Société des E ...

, the national electricity utility, will integrate it into the national electricity grid. A 25-year power purchase agreement has been signed, between NEHO and Jirama. This power station is expected to supply power to an estimated 8 million people and help Madagascar avoid the emission of 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

Developers, ownership and funding

The project is a

public private partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

(PPP), between (a) the

Government of Madagascar Politics of Madagascar takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, with a pluralist multi-party system. The President of Madagascar is head of state and the Prime Minister of Madagascar is head of gov ...

and (b) a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

called ''Nouvelle énergie hydroélectrique de l’Onive (NEHO)'' or ''New Onive Hydroelectric Energy Consortium'', comprising the French companies

Eiffage Eiffage S.A. () is a French civil engineering construction company. it was the third largest company of its type in France, and the fifth largest in Europe. History The company was formed in 1992 through the merger of several long standing comp ...

and

Eranove Eranove is a French company active in the management of public services and the production of electricity and drinking water in Africa. The company was formerly known as Finagestion. Eranove has been present in Côte d'Ivoire for several decad ...

and the company ''Themis''. The government of Madagascar will contribute €30 million towards the development of this power station. The African Development Bank, through the

African Development Fund The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

, lent €4.02 million to the government Madagascar towards this project. In addition, the

Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) (Banque Arabe pour le Développement Economique en Afrique) (المصرف العربي للتنمية الاقتصادية في أفريقيا) is a development bank owned by Arab League t ...

(BADEA) and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, are expected to provide further funding for this project.

Cost and construction

The total cost for the power station is US$895 million (approx. €836 million). The NEHO consortium was selected to carry out the feasibility studies, provide financing, construct the power station, operate the station when completed and maintain it in future. The government of Madagascar will contribute €30 million towards the project and will be a shareholder in the power station when completed. Construction began in December 2019 and commissioning of the completed project is expected in 2024.

Associated infrastructure

The construction work involves (a) the new power station (b) a new 220kV transmission line, measuring approximately and (c) rehabilitation of approximately of access roads. It is expected that the power station will come online in 2024.

References

External links

AfDB to provide $100m guarantee for 205MW Sahofika hydropower project in Madagascar
As of 19 December 2019.
Major construction companies line up to rebuild road to Sahofika dam
Africa Intelligence, 18 September 2024 (requires free registration) {{Authority control Hydroelectric power stations in Madagascar Buildings and structures in Madagascar Dams under construction