Development of solar power plant in Boundiali and Serebou and Extension, reinforcement and upgrading of networks

The Global Gateway listing for this project describes a €72 million intervention to develop solar power plants in Boundiali and Serebou, alongside network reinforcement across Côte d'Ivoire. As with many projects badged under Global Gateway, the EU's framing should be treated cautiously: Global Gateway frequently repackages pre-existing financing commitments under a new political umbrella, and the IATI data here strongly suggests that is the case. The most credible financial signal comes from the EU Commission's own IATI records. A project recorded as "Sustainable Energy for Côte d'Ivoire: 30MWp Solar Power Plant in the context of the West African Power Pool" shows a €10 million commitment that has been fully disbursed, with an activity window running from April 2018 to April 2025. The geographic match to northern Côte d'Ivoire and the solar mandate give this a high confidence match to at least one component of the broader initiative. A second and larger IATI record, ENERGOS 2, shows a €72 million commitment dating to May 2017 covering rural electrification and renewable energy in Côte d'Ivoire, though with no disbursement figure recorded. The alignment of this figure with the Global Gateway headline amount is notable, but the match confidence is rated medium and the project's activity window extends to December 2036, suggesting a long-horizon programme rather than a construction-ready scheme. In short, the €72 million figure appears to reflect a legacy commitment from 2016 to 2017 that predates the Global Gateway framework by several years, now presented within it. No EIB financing has been identified for this project, which limits the available leverage and means independent project-level financial monitoring is thinner than it might otherwise be. Independent news coverage of the Boundiali and Serebou plants specifically is absent. The closest relevant item is a SolarQuarter report from July 2026 noting the inauguration of a 52 MW solar plant at Ferké, a town in the same northern region of Côte d'Ivoire. This is encouraging context for the country's solar programme but cannot be directly attributed to the Boundiali or Serebou plants without further confirmation.