- Benin’s government has reaffirmed its intention to make renewable energy the main source of the country’s power supply by 2030.
- Access to electricity in Benin remains both low and highly uneven: Around 42% of urban households are connected, with less than 13% in rural areas.
- With financial and technical support from a variety of sources, Benin previously built several solar power plants and installed dozens of mini-grids; solar power currently contributes around 15% of domestic production.
- Benin is dependent on imported power for 95% of its electricity needs, but is placing resilient renewable energy at the center of its strategy to increase and expand its domestic generating capacity.
The government of Benin is focusing on building solar power plants as part of a policy to make renewable energy the main source of the country’s energy supply by 2030.
When it met in July, the Council of Ministers approved an updated National Renewable Energy Development Policy (PONADER) for 2020-2030. The policy renews the government’s commitment to solar energy to reduce the country’s economic dependence on fossil fuels, while also broadening access to electricity and helping Benin meet its sustainable development goals and climate commitments it made at the 2015 Paris climate conference.
At present, Benin’s domestic power generation capacity comes principally from thermal sources (69%) — which includes natural gas, coal and oil — with hydroelectricity (16%) and solar energy (15%) making up the rest. However, the country is overwhelmingly reliant on imported power. In 2022, Benin imported nearly 95% of the electricity it used.
Photovoltaic energy in Benin
Expanding access to electricity is a priority for Benin’s government. As of 2024, electricity access in urban areas of Benin stood at 42.6%, with rural areas trailing far behind at just 13%, according to Krystel Dossou, an independent consultant specializing in climate change vulnerability and adaptation.
In 2018-2019, through the Benin Rural Electrification Project (PERU), the government built solar mini-grids with capacities of 30-40 kilowatt-hours and installed solar kits in several localities in Couffo and Plateau departments, in the country’s southwest and southeast, respectively. Financed by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), these projects represented Benin’s first steps toward solar energy.
But these initiatives didn’t succeed. Bill Clément Akouèdénoudjè, a retired energy engineer, attributes this to poor management at the time. “The transition from mini-grids to leasing or other management methods was not made in time, leaving installations in some villages unattended. As a result, solar panels and batteries disappeared. Today, there are around 80 mini-grids, and the DGPER [Directorate-General for Planning and Rural Electrification] is considering handing over their management to the private sector.”
The untapped potential of solar energy
Akouèdénoudjè says solar power in Benin is mainly generated by photovoltaic plants such as the 25-megawatt Illoulofin facility in the southeastern Pobè region. Two additional plants of the same capacity are planned for the site, which would bring the total to 50 MW, financed by the French government’s overseas development agency, AFD.
According to Assan Todema, Benin’s director-general of energy planning and rural electrification, the goal is for 30% of the country’s electricity to come from renewable energy by 2030.
Solar radiation in Benin ranges from 3.5 to 5.5 kWh per square meter per day, with higher potential in the north of the country. Annual photovoltaic production is therefore estimated at 1,560 kWh in the north, 1,460 kWh in the center, and 1,400 kWh in the south. Overall, sunshine duration is limited, even in the best cases, to between 1,500 and 2,000 hours per year.
Funding from the World Bank’s IFC, the AFD’s development finance institution Proparco, and the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is paying for four additional solar plants at Bohicon in the south, and at three sites in the north — Parakou, Djougou and Natitingou — with a combined capacity of 50 MW.
Previously, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded the installation of solar photovoltaic mini-grids in villages such as Ifita in Dassa-Zoumé commune in the center, and Kokouhou in Djougou commune, as part of PANA-Energie, a project to strengthen the energy sector’s resilience to climate change impacts.
“What’s notable about these GEF projects, and will also be true for projects already completed or currently under construction, is that great attention has been paid to environmental impact issues in the localities where the solar photovoltaic plants are being installed,” Akouèdénoudjè says.
Solar energy is an environmentally friendly source of power. In the regions where solar mini-grids are installed, reforestation activities are carried out, giving local communities access to honey, an important source of income and a sign of healthy forests. These forests, in turn, provide habitats for a wide variety of species.
The challenge for Benin’s government is to harness the sun to supply electricity to the population. It aims to achieve solar energy capacity of up to 100 MW. Through the Energy Pact for the Republic of Benin, a project supported by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, these initiatives are intended to set the country on a path that balances economic progress, social equity, and environmental preservation.
Banner image: Illoulofin Solar Power Station. The solar panels were built as part of the DEFISSOL project, which involves, on one hand, the construction of a 25 MW photovoltaic power plant in Illoulofin, in the commune of Pobè (the first large-scale solar plant in Benin and one of the largest in West Africa), and on the other hand, the modernization of SBEE’s IT infrastructure and systems. Image by Yannick Folly, courtesy of AFD.
This story was first published here in French on Sept. 19, 2025.
Correction: This story was updated on Oct. 17 to clarify the combined capacity and funding sources of planned power plants.
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