OMVS: Hydropower Development in the Senegal River Basin

Tamsir NDIAYE, Director of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Senegal River Basin Organization
Session 22: Managing Risk in Clean Energy Projects ASIA CLEAN ENERGY FORUM 2012 MANILA, PHILIPPINES (4 8 June 2012)
Contacts Tl: +221 774500520 / +221 338598190 Email: ndiayetamsir2002@yahoo.fr Web site: www.omvs.org

The OMVS and the Senegal River Basin

Located in the western part of Africa

With a surface area of some 300,000 Km, the River flows across four countries: Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal
Drained by a river, 1,800 kms long Organization for Development of Senegal River Basin (OMVS) is, under a number of aspects, considered as an example of success story OMVS is built around a transboundary basin, the Senegal River which is listed among the 17 2 river basins in West Africa

Legal and Institutional Foundations of Senegal River

March 11, 1972: foundation of OMVS. The OMVS legal and institutional framework is based on 6 international conventions: March 11, 1972: Status of the Senegal river;

Mars 11,1972: Establishment of OMVS + its operating system and institutional framework;
December 21, 1978: Status of Jointly Owned Structures; May 12, 1982: Definition of the financing modalities for JOS; March 28, 2002: Charter of Waters;

March 13, 2006: International code of navigation and transport + Treaty of Guineas accession to the OMVS.

Overview Map of the Senegal River Basin

LOCATION OF DAMS

Importance of Basin Cooperation

The OMVS operates to organize relationships within our community of interests and rights Dissemination and sharing of information on water resources: this is the key for shared or joint concerted and transparent governance; We have today a concrete jointly owned patrimony or heritage that consists of a structuring regional infrastructure that is managed in a concerted and equitable way thanks to a decision making tool, namely the Cost and Charges Allocation Key We have also established organs for consensual decisions and arbitrations as well as Advisory and Regulation structures. The Islamic Development Bank helps financing OMVS projects and programs which I'll talk later.

OMVS Regional Infrastructure (common works) :

MANANTALI DAM

DIAMA DAM
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Manantali Hydro Power Plant and 3-Country Interconnection Network

5 generators of 40 MW each;

Installed capacity of 200 MW;

Producible capacity of 800 GWh / yr, guaranteed for 9 years out of 10; 1,700 km, 225-kV transmission line connecting Senegal, Mali and Mauritania Allocation of the energy generated:

Mali: 52%; Senegal: 33%; Mauritania: 15%

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Conclusions and lessons learned

Why the OMVS MCs had chosen to invest in the promotion and development of hydro-power energy ? Because
Cost effective and clean hydro based generation that replaces high cost and pollutant thermal generation (more than 80%) Low risk of accidents at operating facilities Access to low-cost energy allows to boost other sectors of production and contributes to poverty reduction of the population (improvement of livelihoods) A multi-purpose structure, which optimizes investments (for instance the creation of 2 reservoirs to make water available to the turbines - one reservoir is also used for agriculture, fisheries, potable water, navigation, etc.) purposes.

Conclusions and lessons learned (contd 1):

Main Constraints Difficulty in mobilizing subsequent funds (the required
amounts are usually higher compared to the weak economies of developing
countries);

Difficulty in identifying and assessing all the

environmental and social impacts ;

Difficulty in implementing effective measures to mitigate negative impacts ; Different priorities / interests of the participating states Equitable allocation of benefits among all stakeholders
(upstream & downstream; all sectors of activities, etc.)

Thank you for your attention.

Tamsir SOE-OMVS
Observatoire de lEnvironnement

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