• Cameroon to build 10 small hydropower plants totaling 25 MW by 2030
• First tenders expected in 2027; part of 50-plant national energy program
• Initiative aims to boost clean energy, cut costs, and expand rural access

Cameroon plans to construct 10 new small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 25 MW by 2030, each with a capacity of about 2.5 MW. The initiative is outlined in the country’s National Energy Compact, a roadmap developed with international partners to expand sustainable energy infrastructure.

To reach this goal, the government plans to prepare and adopt the program’s framework documents in 2026 and establish investment incentives and subsidies for private developers interested in the project.

The first calls for tenders to select companies and conduct feasibility studies are expected in 2027. Commercial contracts are expected to be signed, and construction to begin, between 2028 and 2030, a timeline that could extend beyond that period.

The ten planned plants are part of a broader program to build 50 such facilities nationwide. The first small hydropower plant, the 2.4 MW Mbakaou facility, expandable to 4.8 MW, was inaugurated on April 14, 2022, in the Adamaoua region. IED Invest Cameroon built the plant.

The Mbakaou facility cost 4.5 billion Central African Francs (XAF), including a 1.5 billion XAF loan from BGFI Bank Gabon. At the inauguration, Abakal Mahamat, managing director of the bank’s Cameroonian subsidiary, said the institution was ready to finance the remaining 49 projects. Mahamat made the pledge in response to the Minister of Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, who had called on investors to support the initiative. “We want to build the other 49 to solve the electricity supply problem,” Mahamat said.

Energy experts define small hydropower as hydroelectric plants generating less than 10 MW. They are typically built along rivers with strong flow, using both the natural current and an artificially created vertical drop, or head, from a dam to produce electricity.

Cameroon is promoting this type of infrastructure for ecological, economic, and social reasons. Ecologically, small hydropower offers clean, stable energy with less environmental impact than large dams. Economically, these facilities are cheaper to build, attract more investors, and reduce operating costs, which can lead to more competitive energy prices. Socially, they expand electricity access in remote areas, the Mbakaou plant, for instance, connected 2,800 new households, while improving living conditions and creating local jobs.

Brice R. Mbodiam, Business in Cameroon