Toyota Tsusho wins EPC deal for Benin solar battery project

Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho said it has won contract works to install a 50 MW/160 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) serving three solar plants in Benin’s Pobè region.

The battery project will serve the TTC, Deffisol, and Forsun solar plants, each rated at 25 MW for a combined 75 MW, according to Toyota Tsusho.

The company identified its EPC partner for the battery works as “Eiffage RMT,” described in the release as a German engineering firm; the romanized name has not been independently verified and may refer to an Eiffage subsidiary or affiliate. Total project cost is put at €48.6 million ($55.4 million), with completion targeted 15 months after contract effectuation, or around September 2027.

Toyota Tsusho’s earlier Pobè contract, awarded in 2023 for a 25 MW solar plant with the same engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner, reached commercial operation in March 2026.

Toyota Tsusho said Benin’s electrification rate remains in the 40% range, with the country relying on power imports and thermal generation to cover demand. The company said the battery system is intended to absorb solar output variability and improve grid-wide stability across the three-plant Pobè cluster.

Benin had targeted 150 MW of installed solar capacity by 2026, according to a 2023 Toyota Tsusho announcement on the original Pobè plant. The addition of battery storage to the existing 75 MW Pobè cluster reflects a broader pattern across West African solar markets, where storage is increasingly bundled with new capacity rather than retrofitted later.