Burkina Faso is a landlocked French-speaking country located in West Africa. It covers an area of 2,74,200 km2 and its capital is ‎Ouagadougou‎. The country has a population of over 20 million of which approximately 77.3% live in rural areas. The population growth rate is high, estimated at 3.1%. The country is experiencing a high urbanization rate resulting in an urgent demand for housing and electricity.  In 2016, the electricity access rate was 19.2%.

Burkina Faso is a low-income country with limited natural resources. The economy is heavily reliant on agriculture, with close to 80% of the active population employed in the sector. Cotton is currently the country’s most important cash crop, but gold exports have gained importance in recent years.

Burkina Faso is neither an oil producer nor an exporter. Therefore, the country is heavily dependent on imported hydrocarbons from neighboring countries, particularly Cote d’Ivoire, for use in transport, electricity generation and other industries. It also has a high dependence on thermal generation, high power production costs and a loss-making power utility.

Biomass (fuel wood and charcoal) energy is used by about 90% of the population, followed by hydrocarbons, hydroelectricity and renewables (mainly solar). Hydroelectricity use represents about 20% of national electricity consumption (including imports from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire). Burkina Faso’s location on the west coast of Africa is not ideal for wind energy. The average wind speeds recorded are between 1 and 3 m/s. Although this is rather low, it is currently being used to support small-scale water pumping and desalination systems.

In Burkina Faso, solar energy is one of the most abundant resources. The country receives about 3,000- 3,500 hours of peak sunshine and this has the potential to generate an average of 5.5 kWh/ m2/day. Solar systems are currently being used for communication, lighting, refrigeration, water pumping and television. Several solar projects are being commissioned, the latest among them is the construction of two PV power plants which will be partly financed by the World Bank under its Electricity Sector Support Project. The project will comprise a 20 MW solar facility near Koudougou, in Boulkiemdé province and another 10 MW facility planned for the city of Kaya, in the department of Sanmatenga province. The government plans to connect around 155 MW of PV capacity to Sonabel’s network, in a programme announced by the Ministry of Energy in 2018.