Consultations on 8 October 2026 in Cotonou confirmed new German support for Benin's energy and private sector. According to the joint communiqué dated 9 October and reproduced by Daabaaru, Berlin announced an additional 15 million euros for the current year. At the rate of 655.957 CFA francs to the euro, that sum represents 9.839 billion CFA francs.
Nangbéto to combine water and solar power
Part of the funding concerns a regional project to add a solar component to the Nangbéto hydroelectric plant. The facility falls under energy cooperation between Benin and Togo, through the Communauté Électrique du Bénin.
This new support follows the return to service of the rehabilitated plant on 12 December 2025. Togo's ministry in charge of energy says the works had received main funding of 43.5 million euros from Germany's KfW and a contribution of 3.051 million euros from the CEB.
The modernisation covered the turbines and alternators, transformers, protection equipment and control systems. Built between 1984 and 1987, then inaugurated in May 1988, the plant produces an average of 170 GWh a year, according to the ministry.
In its presentation of the hybridisation project, KfW explains that combining solar and hydropower should help stabilise the power supply and improve production costs. It links this objective to business continuity for companies, schools and health facilities in Benin and Togo.
Support for entrepreneurs
The announced envelope is also to fund the expansion of an advisory project for small and medium-sized enterprises and support for women entrepreneurs. The communiqué does not detail how the 15 million euros will be split between these measures and the energy component.
The talks were co-chaired by Hugues O. Lokossou, minister in charge of mobilising external resources and debt management, and Silvia Morgenroth, director of the West Africa Division at the German Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development.
The priorities discussed cover financial governance and decentralisation, the private sector and vocational training, and water and biodiversity. The two delegations agreed to hold the next intergovernmental negotiations in Berlin in 2027.