(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon has tasked Chinese firm Sinohydro with studies for the designing, financing, development and maintenance of a 20MW solar plant in Lagdo, in the north.

On July 11, 2019, in Yaoundé, a memorandum of understanding was signed in that regard by the minister of water and energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba and the Chinese company's local management. Officially, Lagdo plant will help bridge the energy deficit of the northern interconnected grid.

This deficit, Gaston Eloundou Essomba explains, is “partly due to a drop in Lagdo lake’s energy generation capacity and also to a more than 50% decrease in Lagdo hydroelectric plant’s production capacity.” This capacity, which was initially 72MW, dropped drastically to 35MW because of the ageing of this dam, which is the only hydroelectric infrastructure that supplies energy to the three northern regions.

Let’s note that on June 21, 2019, another company (GDS Orion Solar) signed an agreement with the investment promotion agency API for the construction of a 20MW solar power plant in Ngaoundéré.

BRM