Cameroon‘s Nachtigal Hydro Power Company has commissioned a 60 MW turbine at the Nachtigal hydroelectric power project. The turbine is the first of seven units within the 420 MW facility, with the remaining six units scheduled for commissioning by December 2024.
The first unit will direct 60 MW to the country’s Southern Interconnected Network, which supplies Central, South, Coastal, West, Northwest and Southwest regions. According to Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba, the Nachtigal dam “reinforces Cameroon’s electricity production capacity to meet the needs of industry and households”,
Construction of the project began five years ago, funded with €1.2 billion mobilized by project partners including the Cameroonian Government, French utility EDF, asset manager STOA Infra & Energy, and investment platforms Africa50 and the International Finance Corporation.
The Nachtigal facility will increase Cameroon’s electricity generation by 30% once fully commissioned and ensure energy affordability, with electricity from the plant sold at €0.06 per kilowatt hour, saving the Cameroonian Government $100 million annually in electricity costs.
Cameroon plans to sell 100 MW of electricity from the project to Chad via the Cameroon-Chad Power Grid Interconnection Project by 2027.