At Lekela, we firmly believe that Africa can, and should, be powered by renewables. The work we’re doing across our wind projects in Senegal, Egypt and South Africa is helping to provide clean power to millions of people, but our wind farms are just part of the picture.
Each of our projects is accompanied by long-term investment into the local community and environment to ensure that we leave a positive impact in the places where we work. To do this, we implement wide-ranging community investment programmes with initiatives supporting biodiversity, education, employment and more. You can read more about some of our work protecting local biodiversity here.
This is no different at Parc Eolien Taiba N’Diaye, our wind project in Senegal, and West Africa’s first, where our projects have helped improve water security and support local agriculture.
With water scarcity an ever-present issue in this area of Senegal, we constructed a new solar power system to help the community improve its climate resilience.
Our 66k solar field, situated just outside Taiba N’Diaye, will support the community and its local environment by delivering a modern and sustainable alternative to powering the municipality’s water supply.
Not only does this help improve Taiba N’Diaye’s water security, but the solar field has also significantly lowered operating costs, providing much needed savings for the community.
We’ve also invested in renewable solutions to support local agriculture, a significant part of Taiba N’Diaye’s local economy.
Previously, Taiba N’Diaye’s fields were irrigated through diesel powered pumps. We helped the community transition to more sustainable, reliable solar powered pumps, enabling the community to intensify its agricultural output. This has had the dual benefit of improving farmers’ incomes and reducing the climate impacts of farming using diesel powered water pumps.
The programme is in its fourth growing season now, and the community is already seeing benefits. In the last season, farmers were able to harvest 40 tonnes of onions, generating 7.5 million CFA (equivalent to $13,000) in income.
Projects like these are helping to secure a sustainable future for Taiba N’Diaye. Beyond their local impact, they offer a blueprint for the benefits of access to renewables in remote communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Renewables have the potential to play a significant role in energising Africa’s future – and we can, and should, be working to make this a reality including through off-grid renewable energy solutions for local communities.