CAMEROON: inauguration of the 36 MWp Maroua and Guider solar power plants

On Friday 22 September 2023, Cameroon's Minister of Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, inaugurated the 36 MWp Maroua and Guider solar photovoltaic power plants. The facilities, which have been in service for several months, serve the northern part of Cameroon.

Large-scale solar energy production is now a reality in Cameroon. On Friday 22 September 2023, Cameroon’s Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba inaugurated two photovoltaic solar power plants in the Far North and North regions. The Maroua and Guider plants have a combined capacity of 36 MWp and are equipped with 20 MW/19 MWh battery electricity storage systems.

Release by Scatec, a subsidiary of Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec, delivered the pre-assembled system under a lease agreement signed with Eneo, Cameroon’s public electricity utility. The two plants are equipped with more than 44,800 bifacial solar panels mounted on trackers, “which will maximise energy production throughout the day. The plants will produce 80 GWh of electricity a year. We’re proud to say that our fight against climate change will be obvious, as the plants will make a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions, with an estimated saving of almost 60,000 tonnes a year,” says Scatec.

The alternative to thermal power stations

According to Eneo, the two plants will start injecting electricity into the northern interconnected grid (RIN) at the end of 2022. According to Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba, the commissioning of these facilities “will substantially improve the quality of the public service in the northern part of the country, which was previously subject to drastic drops in production from the Lagdo dam (72 MW, editor’s note), due to hydrological problems”.

What’s more, “these solar power plants mean that the thermal power plants previously used to boost production in this part of the country will be shut down, generating budget savings for the State”, explains Cameroon’s Minister of Water and Energy. These are the first large-scale photovoltaic solar energy production facilities.

An investment of €26 million

The electricity produced by the Maroua and Guider solar power plants is therefore supplied to Eneo, the public utility majority-owned by the British investment company Actis. Maroua Guider Solar Company is said to have invested CFA 17 billion, or nearly €26 million. Both projects benefited from an €11 million guarantee from BGFI Bank, a banking group based in Libreville, Gabon.