The consortium EDF-SFI-RIO Tinto, Eneo and the government of Cameroon signed on November 3, 2015, in Yaoundé, a framework agreement defining the general requirements for the implementation of the Natchigal dam into the national power grid. The dam which is to have a production capacity of 420 MW is to be built in the central part of Cameroon.

Valued to 660 billion FCFA, 40% of the funding will go to EDF against 34% and 26% respectively for SFI and Cameroon’s government. As the most important shareholder of this deal for the expansion of Aluminum plant at Edéa (Alucam), EDF emerges as the only French firm to operate in the construction-exploitation of power infrastructures in Cameroon which is dominated by Chinese, British and Norwegian operators.

Truly, the Chinese firms backed by Eximbank China until now succeeded in grabbing all ongoing contracts for dam construction in Cameroon. Among these, there is the contract for the biggest dam ever built in Cameroon, the Lom Pangar dam in the Easter region, for which the Chinese CWE recently completed partial set-up.

EDF to land on the Cameroonian market by 2020-2021

China National Electric Engineering Corporation (CNEEC), for its part, announced that Mékin’s dam which it is constructing in the South, would generate its first MW on 15 December 2015. Sinohydro, also operating in BTP is to soon deliver the Memevé’élé dam also in the South. Meanwhile, Hydrochina positioned itself on the Song-Dong dam while CWE, once more, gets to construct the Mentchum dam.

Though Chinese took over the construction part for these energy infrastructures, the British and Norwegian for their parts, focused on their exploitation. First is Eneo, Cameroon’s power sector concessionaire, controlled by the British fund Actis. Eneo is supplied by the Dibamba and Kribi plants which were fully owned by Globeleq up till September 2015 where they were transferred to a consortium comprising Norwegian fund Norfund and British investment institution CDC Group.

It is only in 2020-2021 when all seven turbines at the Natchigal dam will go online that French EDF will land on the market. Indeed, the consortium of investors led by the French group just signed an exclusivity contract to supply the power which will be generated by the Natchigal dam.

BRM