A prolonged dry season has reduced water levels at hydropower dams in both countries that in some cases could take months to resolve, hampering productivity, raising costs and hitting the economies of the world's biggest cocoa producers.
In Ivory Coast, which exports power to six countries, the national power company faces a generation deficit of about 200 megawatts , or nearly 10% of its 2,230 MW capacity, director general Ahmadou Bakayoko told a news conference on Friday."Electricity production at the national level has been severely impacted since November 2020 by major unforeseen technical incidents on our electricity generation tools," Energy Minister Thomas Camera told the same news conference.
Camara said the national power utility, Ivory Coast Electricity Company , had been forced to use reserve water from its reservoirs to keep hydropower plants going but there was not enough rain to replenish dams. Delays in the expansion of the Azito thermal power plant in the main city Abidjan due to the coronavirus pandemic have also hit capacity.