Gov't initiates its first national survey on access to energy

The Cameroonian Ministry of Energy and Water has just tasked the National Institute of Statistics (INS), with carrying out the first ever national survey on access to energy in the country. This project, which will cost FCfa 232 million, will help, according to its sponsors, to have a better visibility on the composition of the energy mix of the country and assess the impact of public policies in terms of access to energy.

In practical terms, this will about, as specified by the Minister of Energy and Water, Basile Atangana Kouna, evaluating the level of access to different types of energy throughout Cameroon, the different uses of this energy, the supply methods, the quantities used depending on the type of economic activity and the share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix. This survey, we learn, will analyse these various components depending on whether the user is in a rural or urban area, and based on the standard of living of the populations.

With the 2nd hydro-electric potential in Africa after DR Congo, Cameroon unfortunately crumbles under production deficits, the country effectively operating less than 5% of its potential. Since 2012, the government has launched the construction of large infrastructure to reverse this trend. Starting from 2017, according to official estimates, these new dams will increase the installed capacities of the country by approximately 250 MW.