SOLAR MAGLast updated: Thursday, August 3, 2017
The 1st Cameroon International Power, Energy and Equipments Congress and Exhibition, to be held at TurcamHall, the first Trade and Exhibition Center in the Capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé, between March 21st and 24th 2017, is supported by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, Directorate of Renewable Energy, and the Ministry of Trade of Cameroon.
Power & Energy Cameroon 2017 Congress
The congress has been designed to share information between Cameroon and Turkey, to improve cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy and to boost the presence of Turkish businessmen in the region.
During the 1st Cameroon International Power, Energy and Equipments Congress and Exhibition, the first trade event of its’ kind, investment and cooperation opportunities for renewable energy in Africa and especially Cameroon will be discussed in depth. During the forum, projects to enable a much larger portion of the Cameroonian population to have access to energy will be examined and a regional information platform shall be established.
Theme of the Congress
“Renewable Energy and the Future of Africa”
Topics of the Congress
- Energy Legislation in Cameroon;
- Financing of energy in Cameroon;
- Production of renewable energy;
- Applications of renewable energy;
- Sample models for renewable energy.
Power & Energy Cameroon 2017 Exhibition
The exhibition will be the first specialty international trade fair in the region. It will cover categories such as energy production, transmission, lighting and fixtures.
Industries such as energy efficiency and conservation, fossil fuel systems, wind energy systems, solar energy systems, geothermal systems, biogas systems, power transmission and connection systems, fire security systems, repairs, maintenance and service for energy facilities, environment/recycling technologies, industrial control and automation, contractors, builders and logistic services will participate in the exhibition.
Visitors’ Profile
An intensive publicity program for the event is under way in Central/West African region where Cameroon is situated. In addition businessmen are directly invited to the event in collaboration with several regional trade bodies.
Power & Energy Cameroon 2017 B2B Talks
B2B talks scheduled for the last day of the event are specially designed to meet the goals and expectations of the participants. The program is widely publicized both in Cameroon and the CEMAC countries.
At the heart of the B2B talks is the business matchmaking program to ensure that professionally held, result oriented meetings end in long term, enduring business contracts.
Why Participate?
- Fast economic growth and rising demand for energy in Cameroon;
- First and only energy event in the region on this scale;
- A Professional program to promote cooperation on energy between Cameroon and Turkey;
- Meeting point of the industrial opinion leaders/Industrial information platform;
- A Unique program integrating a congress, an exhibition and B2B talks.
The future of Cameroon’s power sector
Cameroon’s development objectives, under the programme Vision 2035 prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (Ministère de l’Economie, de la Planification et de l’Aménagement du Territoire), contemplate significant investments in the energy sector including renewable energy. The policy goals of the government are to ensure energy independence through increased production and distribution of electricity (through the development of Cameroon’s hydropower potential), of oil and gas and to contribute to economic development. The plan Vision 2035 sets Cameroon on the path to become an emerging country and to achieve access to electricity.
The Government, has prepared a long term power policy, the Electricity Sector Development Plan up to 2030 (Plan de dévelopement du Secteur Energétique 2030), which ensures consistency in the development of electricity supply and demand and provides a plan to develop the production, transmission and distribution of electric power in Cameroon. Concerning rural electrification, the Rural Electrification Master Plan aims at electrifying 660 localities through grid extension, but also isolated diesel and mini-hydro grids.
“Energy supply has been the main hurdle in Cameroon’s path towards economic growth,” said Basil Atangana Kouna, Minister of Water and Energy Resources. He said the country uses less than one percent of its renewable energy potential.
Low access to energy
According to a recent report by the Africa Development Bank, despite Cameroon’s abundance of energy resource resources – including oil, gas hydropower and solar – only 18 percent of people in the country had access to those energy sources in 2013, a rate experts said is low for Africa.
The report says currently 60 percent of the country’s installed electricity generating capacity of 1,400 MW is based on hydropower, “which fluctuates greatly during the dry season, forcing Cameroon to rely on expensive emergency thermal units,” or fossil fuel power.
To carry out its Energy Sector Development Plan—which aims for a 75 percent electrification rate by 2030—and reach its economic goals, Cameroon needs more and more reliable energy, experts say. The country also needs new energy grids to reach rural areas and other development infrastructure such as roads, they say.
“The key to the government’s 2035 economic growth plans lies in the provision of energy, especially to the over 70 percent of the population who live in rural areas,” said Richard Balla, the director of renewable energy for Cameroon’s Ministry of Water and Energy.
Investment in solar
Along with the Nkolfoulou landfill project, Cameroon has a range of other plans to help it achieve its renewable energy goals. In January, the country got a cash boost from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (Sefa) to help launch a 72-megawatt solar power plant. By providing financial support to medium- and small-scale clean energy and energy efficiency projects, Sefa helps offset preparation costs and enables these projects to become financially viable, experts say.
With Sefa’s $777,000 grant and support from the African Development Bank, Cameroon is set to start building its first renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) – a facility not owned by the government that can generate electricity for sale to utilities or the general public.
“Its success will have significant effects on the country’s power sector and the continent at large,” predicted Alex Rugamba, director of energy, environment and climate change at the African Development Bank.
The Cameroonian Government expects the support of developing countries such as Turkey, especially in the fields of know-how, project and equipments to reach her development objectives and to overcome the energy problems. comment↓
