As part of the start of the optimisation study of the Cascade Manantali-, a CONCEPT engineer CONCEPT went on a mission to Mali in December 2022 to carry out a detailed field visit together with the representatives of the members of the consortium.

The project has three independent components: Component 1 "Main Component", a study to optimise the management of the Manantali, Gouina and Félou hydropower cascade; Component 2, a study to revitalize and water maintain to the Lontou marigot; and Component 3, a study to protect the villages of Bingassi and Lontou from flooding.

It was launched by the Company for the Management of Manantali Energy (CMME) and financed by the same company, one of the agencies of the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (ODSR), created on 7 January 1997 and responsible for the operation, maintenance, and renewal of the ODSR common works which are conceded to it.   

Since the Manantali Interconnected System (MIS) was opened in 2002, the management scheme has managed a single hydroelectric power plant (Manantali) and has been modified by the opening in 2013 of the Félou hydroelectric power plant on the Senegal River, 245 km downstream of Manantali, and recently by the opening in 2022 of the Gouina hydroelectric power plant on the Senegal River, 184 km or 61 km upstream from Félou.  

This new configuration obviously requires an optimization of its management, being the main reason why the present study was launched, resulting in the provision to CMME of the scientific basis for an adequate management of its current and future electricity production and transmission facilities, in the context of the interconnection of the MIS and the ODSR Interconnected Network (OIN) to the whole West African power system (WAPP).