ABARI ENERGY IN THE MEDIA

POWER SUPPLY IN THE GAMBIA

February 21, 2017
By Modou Gaye

In The Gambia, electricity supply is quite inadequate, with regular power outages contributing to the global power shortage. Energy access in The Gambia is estimated at 35 percent, and installed generation capacity is 102 Mega Watt (MW), of which only 62 MW are currently available. Most of the generation capacity comes from two thermal heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plants. Outside Banjul, NAWEC, the nation’s electricity and water supplier,  delivers electricity through six isolated mini-grids with 13 MW of installed capacity (of which 7 MW available) using high speed light fuel oil (LFO) plants as base load power stations with very high operational costs. The current demand in the country is 620 MW (still growing) and the total electricity production in the country is 242 MW leaving a deficit of ~400 MW and counting. It doesn’t help that the procurement of HFO is very costly due to the unstable exchange rate and the fact that it’s imported on the international market and bought in US Dollars. Abari Energy, registered in the Gambia, owned by Gambians is an Independent Power Producer that aims to lessen the burden carried by NAWEC by generating power from installed solar farms that harnesses the abundant sunlight averaging 8hrs a day. In The Gambia, a square meter of the earth’s surface can harness up to 5.2KWh.