Cameroon projects to build the Grand Eweng dam with a capacity of 810 MW by 2028 in alliance with the American company Hydromine. The power plant’s output will supply the aluminium sector, part of the Cameroonian population and the rest will be exported to Chad.
The Central African nation has just floated the project to build the hydroelectric dam at Grand Eweng with a capacity of 810 MW. The infrastructure is worth an estimated $ 3 billion. It will be built on the Sanaga River, of which it will be the fifth hydroelectric power station and will come into service by 2028.
According to Lucas Briger, Vice President of Development and Operations at Hydromine stated the power of the infrastructure will subsequently be increased to 1,000 MW.
“The Grand Eweng was originally intended for supplying the aluminium sector. It was then decided that part would supply the population of 25 million Cameroonians, whose electricity demand is constantly increasing and that the rest would be exported to Chad in particular.”
The government of Cameroon hasn’t so far committed to investing, the monopoly utility ENEO will be the sole buyer of the power. The additional output will likely be sold to companies like Alucam, an aluminium smelter that has lacked electricity to meet its production capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year. A World Bank-supported interconnection project, once completed, will also allow Cameroon to sell energy to Chad, which has one of the lowest electrification rates in the world.
The construction of this dam is part of the government’s policy which aims to produce 25% of its energy from renewable sources by 2035 and to export part of its production to its neighbours, Chad, the Central African Republic and Nigeria.
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