The facility, approved on 17 December, supplements the $196m loan granted by the African Development Bank to the project in 2005. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $764m.

Spain’s Abengoa is building the 472-MW hybrid plant. The client is state electricity company Office Nationale de l’Electricite.

The new unit will help meet local electricity demand, which is growing at 6-8 per cent a year.