Cameroon to produce 3,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020

Cameroon has the capacity to produce 3,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020 thanks to a ten year program plan launched in 2010.

The Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, revealed the news at the end of a meeting between ADB and the Cameroonian economic operators in Douala, stating we cannot talk of industrialisation without availability and accessibility of power.

Indeed, the second hydropower potential in Africa after the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 12,000 MW, Cameroon currently has a capacity of just over 1,100 MW only for a changing demand which evolves annually between six and eight per cent.

As a result households and businesses typically face power cuts, which, overall, are officially losing the Cameroonian economy half a percentage point of growth each year.

On the effect of reversing this trend, the government launched a vast program of infrastructure construction in this area.

This includes the dam at Lom Pangar, the largest ever built in the country, and commissioning is scheduled for 2015, while Mekin and Memve'ele are also under construction.

The process of launching construction of dams in Bini Menchum to Warak are very advanced, as well as the discussions between the partners who announced construction of hydroelectric in Natchigal.

Many construction projects in solar parks are also well underway across the country.