Ivory Coast needs $20 billion in power investment

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast requires $20 billion in power investment over the next 15 years to meet soaring demand and reach its goal of becoming a regional hub, the oil and energy minister said on Tuesday. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and French-speaking West Africa's largest economy, has a reliable power supply by African standards with total capacity of 1,772 MW. It expects to more than double that to 4,000 MW by 2020. "In order to put our projects into place we will need an estimated $20 billion between 2015-2030," said Adama Toungara at the inauguration of a $400 million expansion project at the Azito Energie gas-fired plant. Ivory Coast, which emerged from a decade of political conflict in 2011, is one of Africa's fastest growing economies along with Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo. Energy consumption is expected to grow annually by 10 percent a year this decade. President Alassane Ouattara has prioritised investment in energy infrastructure and there are plans to expand the grid to allow exports to new countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The country already exports to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso.