Cameroon kickstarts power interconnection project with Chad

Cameroonian authorities launched Tuesday November 21 Cameroon-Chad Interconnection Project, a bilateral high-voltage (HV) interconnection project between the two countries that involves 1.556 km of new transmission lines financed by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the tune of $750 million.

Gaston Eloundou Essomba, Cameroon’s minister of Energy launched the interconnection project that will be developed as part of a bilateral development agreement signed between the two governments’ utility bodies, the Société Nationale du Transport de l’Electricité du Cameroun (SONATREL) and Société Nationale d’Electricité du Tchad (SNE).

The project consists in building 1,556km of new transmission lines as part of the HV, approximately 1,318km will be in Cameroon and the remaining 238km will be in Chad. It is intended to help millions of people in both countries have access to reliable and affordable electricity by enabling the supply of clean electricity available in southern Cameroon to northern Cameroon as well as Chad.

In 2017, AfDB provided $316 million as partial financing for the section connecting the northern power system of Cameroon with Chad. The World Bank in June 2020 approved a $385 million credit line through the International Development Association (IDA), for the portion of the project to connect the southern and the northern power systems of Cameroon. The project is the first HV interconnector in Central Africa.