Captive Power Projects: A summary of the Western Africa regulatory environment | Page 7

Burkina Faso

OVERVIEW
Degree of favourability
Presence of a monopoly company
Existing opportunities . Burkina Faso ' s legal framework enables the development of projects based on a self-production model or via independent producers . For the latter , it seems that electricity should transit through the transmission and / or distribution grid , which is managed by a concessionaire . In our view , this makes the self-production model more suitable for captive power projects .
Electricity law No . 014-2017 / AN ended SONABEL ’ s monopoly for electricity supply .
In practice , electricity transmission remains managed by SONABEL , the national electricity company , under a concession granted by the Ministry of Energy . However , electricity distribution is subject to an authorisation or concession .
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Types of authorisations required and associated thresholds ( if applicable )
Granting modalities ( decree , order ...) Applicable Law ( s )
Self-production
Authorisation required for electricity projects with an installed capacity above 1000 kW for thermal facilities and above 500 kW for renewable energy facilities ( no maximum installed capacity threshold identified ).
Prior written agreement from the Minister responsible for Energy is required for the sale of surplus electricity production from any selfproducer to the grid operator . With the recent 2024 decree , only self-generated renewable energy installations of more than 10 kW are eligible ( where the previous decree had set this minimum at 100 kW ).
Any legal or natural person may operate a selfproduction project with a capacity greater than 100 kW for thermal facilities and 5 kW for renewable energy facilities , so long as they are owner and operator of the facilities and they use the energy on the production site . The self-production project should a capacity equal to 100 % of the rated power of its internal facilities . By derogation , the capacity may be higher , subject to the payment of a tax .
Authorisations to produce electricity granted following an invitation to tender . No exemption possible when the installed capacity exceeds 5 MW . The issuing authority is not specified .
To be further investigated with the administration .
Law No . 014-2017 / AN ( Electricity Code )
Decree No . 2017-1011 / PRES / PM / ME /
Decree No . 2017- 1012 / PRES / PM / ME / MCIA / MINEFID
Decree No . 2024- 0977 / PRES / PM / MEMC / MEFP / MDICAPME
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