Country Focus: Cameroon Cameroon seeks emerging economy status by 2035 In West Africa, the Cameroonian government recently set the year 2035 as a target for becoming an emerging economy. This target is strengthened by an investment-friendly regime implemented to stimulate foreign direct investment, writes Elodie Delagneau, Event Manager for the Infrastructure Partnerships for African Development (iPAD) Cameroon. F urthermore, the government is implementing national power development plans to be achieved by 2020 in order to reach an overall 75% electrification rate and 20% rural electrification rate, which is currently steadying at 7% 1 . The demand from industries is currently soaring due to the high economic recovery rate and there is an urgent need now to meet the increasing demands from mining and industry, which gained momentum since the opening of the energy sector in 2011. The expansion of the transmission and distribution network will require over US$405 million, and the African Development Bank has already committed up to US$1.34 billion over the next five years for energy project investments in Cameroon, such as the Lom Pangar Dam. About Lom Pangar Dam As a key factor to reduce the energy deficit in Cameroon the Lom Pangar Dam is 60% on its way to be launched, according to the Electricity Development Corporation. The project consists of a regulating dam, a hydroelectric power plant at the foot of the dam, a transmission line between the power plant and the Eastern Grid, as well as a rural electrification scheme. The Lom Pangar regulating dam will have a total generation capacity of 30MW, and will facilitate the deployment of 5,000 prepaid meters and the installation of over 100 public lighting spots 2 . Current capacity Although renewable energy comprises only 1% of the whole country where preliminary investments are still being promoted, tremendous opportunities in 36 generation projects are being foreseen including hydropower, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and more recently gas with the discovery of significant gas and LNG potential. The hydroelectric power potential of Cameroon is second only to DRC in Africa, estimated at around 23,000MW, but the current installed capacity represents only about 4% of this technically feasible exploitable supply 3 . The country has an installed capacity estimated at 1,536MW, mostly generated by the national utility, ENEO Cameroun (938MW), and is currently building small and large scale hydro and thermal plants to contribute to electricity access – barely reaching 46% so far – to 4,000MW by the end of 2030. Moreover, Cameroon relies on approximately 30 aging diesel power stations as back-up facilities, the largest of which are located in Garoua (20MW), Douala (15.4MW), and Yaounde (10.8MW). Innovations in technology are crucial to support the grid, supplying most of the industry, encouraging a stronger GDP 4 . Opportunities abound in Cameroon Over 50 energy projects are available and being submitted to tenders and bids in order to fast track the development of the industry. Already more than 30% of the government budget goes to public projects (such the Lon Pangar Dam), but significant private investment is required to support such a growth 3 . Moreover the Ministry of Economy has previously announced a 10-year programme to reach a production capacity of 3,000MW of electricity by 2020. In order to lower the domestic and commercial price of electricity supply, an investment of more than US$3.8 billion would be required to enable the design and construction of power plants. These would include small-scale dams, solar units and biomass plants. Following the path of the South African REIPPP programme, which started in 2011, Cameroon is calling for international stakeholders and investors to present their projects in order to increase the generation capacity and support growing industries. What about the conventional resources? Gas consumption increased by 14% between 2013 and 2014, providing an ideal alternative to respond to the growing residential and industrial energy demand. The enforcement of gas plants should largely contribute to the expansion of the network and the energy supply stability 5 . According to an SNH (National Hydrocarbons Corporation) source, the proven reserves of non-associated gas are estimated at 5 TCF (trillion cubic feet). These quantities could possibly run a 5,000MW power plant for at least 20 years. Moreover, the investment planned by the state of Cameroon into significant pipeline infrastructure development will ESI AFRICA ISSUE 3 2015