Gassi and Lamadji reach first drawdown on a €37.9m solar and storage package
Qair has drawn the first funds under a €37.9 million package for two hybrid solar plants near N’Djamena, combining 30MWp of solar with 8MW and 8MWh of battery storage. The African Development Bank and Proparco each lent €15.2 million, under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Tchadelec.
Qair agreed a framework with the Republic of Chad for two hybrid solar plants at Gassi and Lamadji, both sited on the 90kV loop that rings N’Djamena, with a 20-year power purchase agreement signed with the national utility Tchadelec behind them.
Assembling the money took several institutions rather than one. The African Development Bank and Proparco each provided loans of €15.2 million, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa added €6 million in repayable grants, and Proparco with the Agence Française de Développement contributed a further €1.5 million, alongside a letter of credit covering Tchadelec’s payments under the agreement.
Qair announced the first disbursement from that €37.9 million package on 25 September, which moves the projects from financing into construction.
What gets built is 30MWp of solar paired with 8MW and 8MWh of battery storage across the two sites, a combination that matters in a system where solar output falls away exactly when household demand rises in the evening.
Commercial operations are scheduled to begin in August 2027, and the two plants are expected to generate around 65GWh a year, which Qair puts at the annual electricity needs of roughly 260,000 people.
