This is part 7 of an 8-part series
Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, driving force behind solar electrification
jad20211202-gamechangers-serie6-bachirismaelouedraogo-600x900 © Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo © Stéphanie Scholz/Colagène
Electricity consumption is skyrocketing, but production is not keeping up, and energy imports are becoming increasingly expensive. This is the problem that Burkina Faso must solve. The country is forced to import nearly 60% of its energy from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to meet a demand for electricity that has been increasing by nearly 10% per year since 2012.
Yet the country has already started to get out of the rut. And, in the opinion of several sector specialists, it is thanks in part to Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, minister of energy. Appointed in 2018 during the first term of Marc Christian Kaboré, the 40-year-old trained in the United Kingdom and is an expert in renewable energy. He was reappointed to his post at the beginning of the year while seeing his duties extended to mines and
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