The Africa Report — July-August 2017

“

I

t is very hard to live without light,”

explains Oumarou, who lives in the

town of Mozogo in the Extrême-

Nord Region. For a year, the inhabitants

ofthisisolatedareadidnothaveelectric-

ityduetothetopplingofsomeelectricity

polesinApril2016.“Wewerecutofffrom

the world – no radio, no television,” says

Oumarou after electricity was restored

about two months ago.

While Cameroon is estimated to have

sub-SaharanAfrica'ssecond-largestpo-

tentialforhydropower,itstillstrugglesto

provideelectricityduetoalackofinvest-

mentandtheageofsomeexistingplants

and other infrastructure. According to

official statistics, electricity coverage is

about 53.7% of the population. And that

figure hides a number of disparities, as

theAgence de Régulation du Secteur de

l'Electricité(ARSEL) says that only 5%

of rural areas have access to the grid.

As of 2016, the country had about a

dozen large and medium-sized gener-

ation plants and about 20 smaller ones,

with a combined capacity of 1,292MW.

Toreachalevelof75%accesstoelectric-

ity, the country needs 3,000MW. That

is the government's target for 2023, re-

quiringinvestmentsestimatedat$6.3bn.

Currently, electricity provision

problems are the most pronounced in

northern Cameroon, and there are also

serious deficits in the south. During

the dry season – from December to

July – weak rains mean that there are

lower levels of hydroelectricity pro-

duction. Until May, every

household in the north

experienced an average

ofthreeload-sheddingcuts

per week. “We suffered a

lot because of this situa-

tion. I am very far behind

in my work,” explains Joël,

aresidentofMarouainthe

Extrême-Nord Region.

In early June, electric-

ity distribution company

Eneo – which is owned

by UK-based investor

Actis – announced that

it would be reducing the

planned cuts to once per week. Later

in the month, it said that interruptions

to supplies had ended, at least until the

next dry season.

Households in the north are linked

to a 35-year-old dam in Lagdo. Eneo

tellsThe Africa Reportthat this old

infrastructure “is no longer able to

perform adequately during the dry

season.” It produces about two-thirds

of its 72MW production capacity during

that time of the year. The government

says that it is looking to raise 100bn CFA

francs($170.7m)torehabilitatethedam.

PLANSFORSOLAR

Plans are underway to boost produc-

tion in the north. Backed with a 182bn

CFA franc loan from the Industrial and

Commercial Bank of China, a new

75MW dam is being built in Warak.

Eneo plans to add an additional 10MW

to the grid with a thermal power plant

in Maroua that should be operational

in July and is developing 35MW of solar

capacity that should come online by

2019. An Eneo spokesman tellsThe
      Africa Report: “In the Grand Nord, so-
      lar is a good opportunity to improve
      supply in the face of droughts that hurt
      hydroelectric production.”
      Anarchic installations are a problem
      across the country, and in 2016, Eneo
      had to repair and replace some 67,000
      electricity poles. The company says that
      fraudulentconnectionstothegridleadto
      lossesof“morethan30bnCFAfrancsper
      year”.Collectingdebtsisalsoachallenge,
      especially with state-owned companies
      and the government administrations.
      Eneo is now piloting a programme
      called Smart Eneo in Douala for the
      useofprepaymentmeters.
      Eneo bought distribution
      concession from the US-
      based AES in 2014 and
      the following year agreed
      a 900bn CFA programme
      forthesectortocover2015
      to 2031. The company is
      now in talks to extend its
      concession, which is set to
      expire in 2021.
      In the meantime, the
      population is waiting for
      newprojectstodeliver.The
      200MW Memve'ele dam
      in southern Cameroon
      is due to come online before the end
      of the year. Construction of the €1bn
      ($1.1bn) 420MW Nachtigal dam is due
      to commence in late 2017 or early 2018
      with the backing ofElectricité de France,
      the World Bank and the government.
      Reinnier Kazéin Yaoundé

ELECTRICITY

Trying to keep the lights on

Weak investment, ageing infrastructure and

a reliance on hydropower have contributed to recent

power cuts, but new projects are on the horizon

In Douala, distribution company

Eneo is piloting a programme

for the use of prepayment meters

NICOLAS EYIDI FOR JA

SOURCE:ARSEL

$6.3bn

Estimated investments

required to ensure that

75% of Cameroon’s

population have access

to electricity by 2023.

52 COUNTRYFOCUS| CAMEROON