President Adama Barrow Saturday laid the foundation for the construction of a 23 Mega Watt Solar Plant and an eight Mega Watt Battery Energy Storage System, with three years of operations and maintenance.
In his keynote address, the president said: “The proposed Jambur solar plant is a component of The Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernisation Project, which is co-financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank at an estimated budget of US$27 million (twenty-seven million United States dollars).”
The president said ultimate goal of the project is to provide additional reliable, affordable, sustainable, and green energy generation capacity to meet the increasing energy needs of the Gambian people.
“This solar project is an integral part of our national Strategic Roadmap, 2021-2024, aimed at attaining universal energy access by 2025 and transforming The Gambia Electricity Sub-sector, as approved by Cabinet in November 2021.
The roadmap outlines my government’s aspiration to achieve universal access to electricity by 2025 and, at the same time, transform the electricity sector so that Gambians can benefit from reliable and affordable electricity, leading to NAWEC becoming an efficient, financially sustainable power utility,” he added.
He said the strategic roadmap serves as the development blueprint for the electricity sub-sector in the short and medium term. Renewable energy is highly placed on its order of priority.
In the roadmap, Solar PV is considered as the cheapest form of renewable energy in The Gambia.
This project will inject clean energy into the electricity grid, thus contributing to the achievement of The Gambia’s Climate Change Targets of Nationally Determined Contributions. It will also help us to diversify our electricity generation sources, reducing the country’s over-dependence on imported petroleum products,” he noted.
Source: State House
