Energy and electricity for all in 10 years

It is universally recognised that electricity is useful and necessary for the development of all sectors: agriculture, industry, health, economy, education, housing and transport, public lighting. This is to say the strategic place and the primary role played by electric energy in everyday life. Without it, everything would be almost at a standstill.
During the last decade, a number of so-called ‘structuring’ projects by the New Deal Government have been defined. It is clear that, despite the slogans of initial operation planned for the end of 2014, Cameroonian households and SMEs continue to live daily today in 2018 at the rate of recurring power cuts that permanently affect both economic health and the development of the country.
However, the energy potential of Cameroon is considerable and still very under-exploited. It is 12,000 MW, making our country the third largest in Africa behind the DRC and Ethiopia. It could become one of the main export products of the country, far ahead of oil for example.

Cameroon, an energy power: Electricity available for all and 80% of households connected in a term – Export of electrical energy

• Provide electricity on a constant and regular basis to all households and businesses in Cameroon wherever they are. We will put in place an efficient electricity generation and distribution system across the country with the goal of efficiently supplying all households and businesses across the country in the next 10 years. In all cases, 80% of house holds in Cameroon will be connected to electricity at the end of the term.
• Improve the electricity distribution network in major cities to reduce the risks associated with network obsolescence and uncontrolled connections;
• Build Cameroon’s energy take-off on a mix of different energy sources by increasing the share of renewable energies;
• Make the liberalisation of electricity production effective in Cameroon;
• Efficiently supply households with city gas;
• Eventually develop alternatives to firewood in the countryside, and in the meantime, optimise wood-burning techniques to drastically reduce energy-wood consumption while using improved stoves
• Develop parks or ‘farms’ of photovoltaic panels in the North and Far North regions where sunshine is an abundant source and available for a large part of the year;
• Develop wind farms along roads and localities where wind is frequent, especially in the regions of the western dorsal of Cameroon;
• Generalise, where possible, the use of solar energy for public lighting (urban, rural, interurban)

In order to do so:

• We will establish a rigorous land register of the energy situation of the country by organising General States of Energy associating different ministries and updating the Master Plan of Electricity in particular and energy in general;
• We will efficiently network the territory to reduce power cut-offs;
• We will organise the supply of electricity in our big cities so that each household and each company can connect to the electricity network in less than 48 hours.
• We will focus, for the distribution of electricity in large cities, on underground wiring to aerial wiring. The gradual establishment of this underground network of electricity cables could be done at the same time as the installation of the sewerage network.
• We will improve the regulatory framework and make it an incentive for the development of independent power generation and private investment in electricity transmission networks;
• We will materialise the provisions of the existing decrees and orders governing the activities of the electricity sector by effectively opening, to private investors, the transport of energy from the production sites to the consumption places. However, the final household connection network will remain under the control of local communities or regions (or federated entities) to cover remote areas;
• We will promote the emergence of a national electricity market with the multiplication of actors in both production and distribution. To this end:

– We will adopt a better pricing of electricity transmission;
– We will clarify the role of independent power suppliers;
– We will establish the operating rules of the market and use of transport and distribution
infrastructures.

Valuing renewable energy sources

We will develop a regulatory and incentive framework for the development of renewable energy sources, including plants that are isolated or connected to the national network.
All forms of potential renewable energy will be valued:

• Investments with public participation for the exploitation of solar energy will be encouraged in the northern part of the country where the sun is an inexhaustible deposit. In this perspective, the State will participate in public-private partnership (PPP) projects for the installation of parks or ‘farms’ of photovoltaic panels whose feasibility studies will prove beneficial for an injection into, and connection to, the electricity network.
• Where possible, we will generalise the use of solar energy for public lighting (urban, rural, interurban). In this perspective, incandescent bulbs will be systematically replaced by low energy LED bulbs and lighting poles filled and powered by mini-solar panels;
• The policy of construction of mini hydroelectric dams will be developed and generalised on rivers to supply the rural areas and the cities of small size or of average size;
• Investments with public participation for the exploitation of wind energy will be encouraged along the roads and in the localities of the western ridge of the country where the wind is a deposit with very high potential. In this perspective, the State will participate in PPP projects for the installation of wind farms whose feasibility studies will prove beneficial for an injection and connection to the electricity network;
• The investment policy for the construction and operation of dams (hydroelectric power) along the Nachtigal and Sanaga rivers will be strengthened when industrial needs are clearly identified and agreed for Centre, Adamawa and East regions;
• Investments with public participation for the exploitation of biomass energy resulting from the transformation of household waste will be encouraged in major cities, starting with Douala and Yaoundé. In this perspective, the State and/or Regions (or federated entities) will participate in PPP projects for the creation of 2 thermal power plants (including 1 for Douala and 1 for Yaoundé) exploiting the energy generated by the incineration of garbage in these agglomerations.

An agency for energy efficiency

• In order to meet the energy needs of households and businesses as quickly as possible, we will improve our production capacities, the efficiency of our transport system, and, above all, reduce needs by consuming just what is needed.
• We will create an energy efficiency agency whose mission will be to:

– identify barriers to the dissemination of energy-efficient technologies in Cameroon and define the
areas of intervention (policy, regulation, training) of an agency/branch dedicated to energy efficiency;
– develop a regulatory and incentive framework for the development of energy efficiency programmes
in industries, the tertiary sector, residential and public lighting;
– promoting regional thinking with a view to adopting common rules and standards to facilitate the
setting up of central purchasing or production units to meet the needs of the Central African market;
– support companies in reducing their energy consumption and, in turn, their energy bill;
– promote the use of more energy efficient technologies.
– design and implement a vast awareness and sensitisation programme for LED lamps and other
household equipment that consumes less energy.

Exploiting gas from oil production

We will put in place a more concerted policy that will, when it is economically and environmentally justified, define the conditions for considering, in the operating licenses of oil and gas platforms, associated gas recovery clauses for electricity production and thus increase the availability of electricity in Cameroon

Develop a sub-sector of production of materials and equipment of electricity production and transmission

We will encourage and support the private sector to invest in production plants for materials and equipment for the production and transmission of electricity (electrical cables, meters, transformers).