The option of biomass considered for rural electrification

Two small hydroelectric power plants and two biomass plants with a capacity of 2.85 MW has been allocated to the West and the Littoral.

The current level of rural electrification in Cameroon is alarming as issued by the Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in Yaounde on Thursday.

Notwithstanding the reform of the electricity sector begun since 1998, the rural sector still suffers from a deficit of electricity. According to Samuel Bienvenu Ndjom, 48% of the total population have access to electricity, 90% in urban households and 23% in rural households.

He further added that the electric power distribution company, Eneo Cameroon, has 900 000 subscribers for an estimated population of 2.5 million households. Approximately 3,634 of 13,000 localities are electrified with a coverage rate of below 20%.

The director of the EAR speaks of a lack of production infrastructure, transport and distribution of electricity attributable to the delay in investments, obsolescence of existing infrastructure, the lack of planning and objective investment planning and insufficient coordination of actions among stakeholders.

Consequently, the rural world is facing these constraints. In order to provide an alternative to the energy deficit, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Rural Electrification Agency initiated on Thursday the project called "Promoting integrated biomass and small hydro solutions for productive purposes in Cameroon".

Amounting to 12.3 million dollars (about 6.150 billion F), the project is a grant from the partnership of the Global Environment Fund and will allow its pilot phase to be executed in the West and Littoral regions with the construction of two small hydro power plants (PCH) and two pico-biomass plants (PCB) with a total capacity of 2,825 megawatts.

The overall objective is to reduce carbon emissions through the promotion of energy conservation from renewable energy for productive and industrial purposes.

For Martin Zeh-Nlo of UNIDO, "this project will also be able to help the government build its capacity for planning renewable energy projects and achieve this through the ECSD."

"The development of renewable energy achieves greater energy independence; fight against climate change to avoid the use of fossil fuels and create new career paths and jobs", said Samuel Foto, Inspector No. 1 to the Ministry of Water and the Energy.