Energy, Water Supply : Gov’t Promises Increased Production

The Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, on March 31, 2022 in a press conference presented some measures taken by the government to improve water and electricity supply in the country. Solutions range from increased production to transportation and subsequent distribution, all with the objective to provide an equilibrium in demand and supply chains. 
To address the issue of structural deficit between the supply and demand of electricity production, the Minister stated that government’s strategy consists in developing, as a matter of urgency, major facilities to boost production. Despite a drastic drop in energy production caused by global warming, a situation of low waterbody tides around the periods of February 15 to March 30 every year, government is adopting structural measures to satisfy the population. 
This, he stated, explains why the Limbe thermal power plants with a capacity of 85 MW to support demand in the South-West, Littoral and North-West Regions, Bamenda (20 MW), Dibamba in Douala (86 MW), Ahala in Yaounde (60 MW), Mbalmayo (10MW) and Ebolowa (10 MW), and the Kribi gas-fired power plant (216 MW) were commissioned. Given the high cost of generating thermal power, Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba said the State decided to develop a strategy to increase the supply of hydroelectricity through the Lom-Pangar, Memve'ele, Mekin and Nachtigal projects. “In a bid to increase electricity production, the Memve'ele power plant, expected to be commissioned at the end of May 2022, will increase its production from the existing 90 MW to 211 MW. In addition, the construction, at the toe of the Lom-Pangar reservoir dam, of a 30 MW electricity production plant and its commissioning in the next few months, will make it possible in the short term to significantly improve electricity supply in the East Region, he explained, adding that the President of the Republic has instructed the acceleration of the construction of a reservoir dam on the Ntem River, similar to the Lom-Pangar dam. In the northern part of the country, Minister Eloudou Essomba explained that government has since March 23, 2022, taken actions consisting in transferring the units of the Ahala power plant to Garoua (Djamboutou) and Ngaoundere, and in commissioning a new additional capacity of 10 MW at Guider. “Also, the government and its partner, ENEO, will install two new thermal pow...