The $317.5-million "Haske" project, ("Light" in the local Hausa language) aims to "accelerate access" to electricity for urban and rural households as well as to health and education establishments and businesses, Energy Minister Ibrahim Yacoubou said at the launch in Niamey.

The project includes the expansion of the use of solar photovoltaic energy, which is in abundant supply in the landlocked West African nation.

When completed, it is expected to provide 629 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

Currently, wood-burning provides nearly 80 percent of the energy used in Niger households for lighting and cooking.

Two-thirds of the impoverished country of 22 million people is desert, and the "harmful effects of climate change" are making matters worse, the minister said.

The current rate of access to electricity throughout the country is just 17.5 percent, according to the energy ministry.

The new drive will help that rise to 30 percent by 2026 and to 80 percent by 2035, the ministry said.

To free itself from its heavy energy dependence on neighboring Nigeria, Niger is also working to complete its first dam on the Niger River by 2025.

In addition, the EU and the French Development Agency will co-finance the construction of another hybrid power plant at a cost of 32 million euros ($32 million) in Agadez, a major city in northern Niger that is regularly plunged into darkness.

Its construction will allow the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to revive its economic and social development after a decline in tourism due to jihadist attacks in the Sahel, according to local authorities.