Senegal opens West Africa’s first big wind farm in push for renewables

DAKAR: Senegal inaugurated the first large-scale wind farm in West Africa on Monday, a facility that will supply nearly a sixth of the country’s power when it reaches full capacity later this year.

With the wind farm, Senegal will get 30 per cent of its energy from renewable sources, which has been a goal of President Macky Sall.

“The energy mix we have today allows us to move past our dependence on petrol,” said Papa Mademba Biteye, director-general of Senelec, the national electricity company, at an inauguration ceremony in the rural community of Taiba N’Diaye.