PV Lighting at Abidjan Harbour

Project description

85 solar LED streetlights have been installed at the Vridi channel, the entry of the harbour in Abidjan/Ivory Coast by Phaesun in cooperation with the local partner S-TEL. Abidjan harbour is one of the largest freight harbours in Africa and thus very important for imports and exports to Western Africa. Lighting of the channel piers is an operating challenge because any interruption stops all boat traffic and has tremendous consequences on operations such as delayed schedules, traffic jams, and financial repercussions.

Why was PV selected?

The Vridi channel was illuminated by grid connected street lights before. Due to old technology and an unreliable electricity grid the harbour lighting turned to be inefficient and unreliable, thus influencing the boat traffic. Therefore, the PAA (Port Autonome d’Abidjan, harbour managing company) looked for a reliable solution that could backup and even replace the existing grid power streetlights. PV lighting was selected as the most reliable solution to guarantee service continuity.

Special challenges

The major concern to successfully implement these streetlights was the remoteness of the site. The installation sites are only accessible by boat which means daily transport difficulties and limited load possibilities. Transportation of equipment and installation was successfully operated with assistance of the local partner S-TEL.