For the populations to benefit from the energy available in Nachtigal it had to be transported. A contract for access to the electricity transmission network was signed between the producer of Nachtigal’s electricity and the National Electricity Transmission Company. The partnership was initialed between Sonatrel and NHPC on September 23, 2024, in Yaoundé, under the gaze of Gaston Eloundou Essomba Minister of Water and Energy
Thus, it is now possible for Nhpc to ask Sonatrel to transport all the electrical energy produced by the dam. The producer of this energy should be paid by ENEO , which is the supplier and with which it has a contract. Sonatrel in turn expects a counterpart which is the payment of the electricity tariff by Nachtigal hydropower company, according to Victor Mbemi Nyankga, Director General of Sonatrel.
It is ultimately the entire electricity sector that is taking a breath of fresh air. Plunged into an energy deficit, Cameroon has turned to thermal sources, which are nevertheless very expensive for the State. The energy coming from the Nachtigal dam (420 MW) should thus allow the country to make savings. The line will supply the entire southern interconnected network (RIS) and evacuate all of Nachtigal’s energy.
The signing of the contract comes a few days after the commissioning of the third turbine of the Nachtigal dam. The others should follow monthly until January 2025, according to Vincent Leroux, General Manager of Nhpc.
Let us recall that the objectives of the project are to overcome the electricity deficit, relieve the sector of significant costs, among others. The infrastructure, the work on which began in February 2019, was to be delivered in March 2024 according to the forecasts made in July 2021 by Nhpc.
It is clear that several other dates have been announced without effect. On September 19, the Minee announced yet another delivery date, during its working visit to the project site, during which another 60 MW were injected into the network, bringing to 180 MW, the total power coming from Nachtigal already available. If there is no further date slippage, the dam will be fully in production at the end of January 2025, according to Gaston Eloundou Essomba.
