Financed by the United Arab Emirates for 90 million dollars, the Sakaï 2 solar plant aims to strengthen Bangui's power supply, where blackouts remain frequent.
The Sakaï 2 solar plant was connected to the national electricity grid of the Central African Republic on Wednesday, August 12, during a ceremony attended by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and Emirati representatives. Located near Bangui, the facility has an announced capacity of 60 megawatts (MW). The commissioning comes as several solar operators accelerate their deployments worldwide, such as Recurrent Energy, which recently brought a 150 MW solar park online for Microsoft, or the 27 MWp hybrid solar park commissioned by Globeleq in Zambia. The connection of Sakaï 2 marks a further step in strengthening the power supply of the Central African capital.
Central African authorities present the project as the result of a 90 million dollar Emirati investment. Together with facilities built in recent years, Sakaï 2 is said to have raised the electricity capacity available to Bangui from 28 MW to 101 MW in under ten years, according to figures provided by the authorities.
Pascal Bida Koyagbele, Minister of Major Public Works and the official in charge of the project, said the plant should cover the electricity needs of around 300,000 households. The announced connection, however, corresponds to a first commissioning stage, ahead of the full integration of the solar field into the national grid.
The Bangui metropolitan area has around 1.5 million inhabitants and remains exposed to regular power cuts and supply difficulties. Some districts already benefit from electricity produced by Sakaï 2, while others will have to wait for additional works to be completed before being connected. These outages also feed into the national political debate: opponents of Faustin-Archange Touadéra, in power since 2016, cite difficulties in accessing electricity to demand his departure.
The ramp-up of Sakaï 2 adds to other recent solar investments in the country. According to the World Bank, the Central African Republic already had, as of February 2025, a 25 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar plant in Bangui paired with a 30 megawatt-hour (MWh) storage system, commissioned under the PURACEL and PASEEL projects.
The financing of Sakaï 2 illustrates the tightening economic ties between the Central African Republic, classified among the poorest countries in the world, and the United Arab Emirates. This cooperation has strengthened in recent years across several areas, including energy and infrastructure. The Central African power sector also remains backed by other lenders: the World Bank stated in February 2025 that its energy portfolio in the country stood at around 200 million dollars, including 110 million dollars allocated to generation and grid infrastructure, 50 million dollars to off-grid solutions, and 40 million dollars to reforms and performance improvements at ENERCA, the state-owned electricity utility.
In June 2026, the World Bank also approved 200 million dollars in financing for a first phase of the regional DARES program, covering Benin, the Central African Republic, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The program falls under a broader framework valued at 853 million dollars, aimed at expanding access to reliable, affordable and clean electricity across the region.
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