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Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance and Energy, in collaboration with the Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security (PI-CREF), Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, has secured a $45 million commitment from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) to rehabilitate and expand the Bumbuna 1 hydroelectric plant.
The agreement was finalized during high-level meetings at the OPEC Fund Development Forum in Vienna, where OFID confirmed its role as the primary financier for the project.
Discussions are ongoing with an additional development partner to co-finance the initiative, pending an official request from the Sierra Leonean government.
A recent joint appraisal mission by OFID and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in coordination with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Energy, EGTC, EDSA, and the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security (PI-CREF), validated the project’s technical feasibility and alignment with national energy goals.
The Bumbuna 1 expansion will double the plant’s capacity to 100 megawatts (MW) by installing two additional turbine-generator sets. According to Dr. Yumkella, the upgrade is a key component of Sierra Leone’s Mission 300 compact, which aims to transform the country’s power sector and advance its climate resilience and energy transition objectives.
In a related development, Sierra Leone’s $260 million Country Strategy Programme with OFID is set to be formally signed by Finance Minister Sheku Fantamadi Bangura in the coming weeks.
