• Senegalese groups urge decentralized energy to close rural electrification gaps
• 30% of rural areas lack power despite 84% national access rate
• Civil society backs solar mini-grids as key to meeting 2030 targets

Civil society groups in Senegal are pushing for decentralized electrification solutions to address gaps in the country’s energy transition, the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) reported on Tuesday.

Speaking at a public workshop, Fatimata Diallo, national coordinator of a civil society platform, said most energy projects currently supported focus on increasing supply to the national power grid, favoring generation infrastructure connected to existing networks.

She pointed to the 20-megawatt Bokhol solar power plant, commissioned in 2016, noting that several nearby communities still lack access to electricity despite the presence of the facility.

Government data published in 2025 showed that Senegal’s national electricity access rate stood at about 84%, a figure that conceals wide disparities between urban and rural areas. More than 30% of rural communities remain without electricity.

The International Energy Agency estimates that around 30% of new electricity connections required by 2030 will need to come from mini-grids and off-grid systems, alongside the expansion of national networks.

Against this backdrop, civil society groups are advocating greater use of solar mini-grids and off-grid systems to accelerate rural electrification.

In January 2025, the World Bank confirmed the launch of the Senegal Energy Access Scale-Up Project, backed by the International Development Association. The project aims to electrify nearly 200,000 households, as well as 600 health centres and 200 schools, and includes the construction or rehabilitation of about 4,000 kilometres of power lines.

Building on these efforts, Senegalese authorities unveiled their National Energy Pact at the Mission 300 energy summit in January 2025, setting a target to provide electricity to an additional 6.6 million people by 2030.

Abdel-Latif Boureima