(Business in Cameroon) - GDS Orion Solar plans to invest XAF15 billion in the construction of its 20MW solar plant in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon. This information was revealed on June 21, 2019, during the signature of an investment agreement by the investment promotion agency API and GDS Orion Solar.

With this agreement, the energy project will benefit from the incentives provided by the 2013 law on private investments in Cameroon. This law amended in 2017 grants various tax and tariff incentives to investing companies for five to ten years.

GDS Orion Solar indicates that the Ngaoundéré solar plant, which will become the largest of such infrastructures in the country, will help provide 290 jobs. Apart from providing energy to the population, it will help diversify the country’s energy mix in which solar, wind and biomass energy represents less than 1% of the whole mix.

The choice of making Ngaoundéré host the infrastructure is not by accident. Indeed, according to various studies, the three northern regions in Cameroon (Adamaoua, the North and the Far-North) are the most exposed to the sun in the country. According to the energy regulator (Arsel), the average daily sun exposure in these parts is 5.8 kWh/m² while in the south, it is 4 kWh/m².

There is little information on GDS Orion Solar but some sources indicate that it is a joint-venture formed by French producer Générale du solaire and financial partners like Arborescence Capital, which has had interest in the Ngaoundéré project since its elaboration.

Brice R. Mbodiam