With the transition to processing harder ore, energy consumption at the Essakane mine increased from about 14 GWh/month in 2013 to 26 GWh/month in 2015. In light of this, IAMGOLD Essakane SA decided to partner with African Energy Management Platform (AEMP) and global renewable energy independent power producer EREN Renewable Energy SA, to construct solar capacity to complement the existing 57MW heavy fuel oil ("HFO") power plant. In the project's first phase, it was estimated that 15 MWp of solar capacity would be built and the hybridization of IAMGOLD Essakane SA's HFO power plant would allow savings of approximately six million liters of fuel and a reduction of 18,500 tonnes of CO2 per year. According to IAMGOLD, rhe project would also bring the creation of 40 new jobs.