Senegal-GTZ Programme to Promote Rural Electrification and a Sustainable Supply of Domestic Fuel

GTZ is working with Senegal with the following objective: "The conditions and the implementation capacity for sustainable access to modern energy services have improved, especially for the poorer sections of the population."

Approach

"At policy level PERACOD is helping the most important state actors to promote greater integration of energy services in national development plans, such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the sector development policies (health, vocational training, agriculture). At the local level, it ensures that basic energy services are taken into consideration in the creation of local development plans.

To extend the reach of rural electrification, the Senegalese Agency for Rural Electrification (Agence sénégalaise d'électrification rurale - ASER) is awarding concessions to private suppliers, who are required to provide up to 50 % of the rural population with access to electricity by 2012. The suppliers receive a subsidy for this, and must undertake to maintain the supply independently for 25 years thereafter. In remoter areas, away from the power grid, the programme is working with ASER to encourage electrification based on local initiatives. Photovoltaic installations are frequently used as the most cost-effective solution. The programme's principal tasks are to advise ASER and the relevant directorate of the Ministry of Energy, and to train communities and the private sector in implementing the measures.

To guarantee a sustainable supply of domestic fuel, the programme is collaborating with the Ministry of the Environment's Forestry Directorate to promote the participatory and sustainable management of forest resources and to support the introduction of more efficient carbonisation techniques for use by charcoal producers. At the same time, PERACOD supports the producers of energy-efficient stoves in producing and marketing their products, and also promotes companies which produce alternative fuels from waste materials and reeds. This lightens the workload of women, who as a result spend less time gathering firewood and cooking.

The programme is also advising Senegal on promoting environmentally-friendly alternative forms of electricity generation. Investors in renewable energies need clear and attractive business conditions. For this reason the programme is currently helping the Senegalese Government to draw up legislation on feeding electricity generated from renewable sources into the electricity grid.

Projects that open up access to modern energy services incur high investment costs. For this reason, the programme supports its partners in selecting appropriate projects which will allow them to benefit from additional sources of financing, such as certification of emissions reduction through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

To carry out the measures described here, the programme also uses funding from the Energising Development programme of the Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation."

Results achieved so far

"The pilot phase of electrification based on local initiatives brought a power supply to some 17,000 people in 72 villages. Three private providers have installed power plants and established a power supply. Roughly another 150 small villages with no access to electricity have been chosen for electrification in the second phase of the programme (starting mid 2009). The power is used in the villages by private households as well as schools and health centres. Moreover, the electricity is also used to help small rural business to realise income creation measures, which promotes economic growth in the villages.

Forestry resource management plans have been drawn up for around 40,000 hectares of forest, and the legal basis has been established for their management by local communities. Since 2009, the local populations have been exploiting these forest areas sustainably. Now, more than 500 people find it possible to earn an attractive extra income outside the agricultural growing season.

133 blacksmiths and six pottery cooperatives have received training in the production of energy-efficient stoves. In 2009, the production output was roughly 2,200 stoves per month. In all, from the end of 2007 to December 2009, approximately 72,000 improved stoves have been built, which now save around 100,000 tonnes of wood every year. The users of the improved stoves save more than EUR 100 per year in fuel costs, which adds up to savings of approximately EUR 6–10 million a year for the poorer sections of the population. Women are exposed to fewer emissions of harmful smoke and fumes when cooking.

The programme is helping companies and private initiatives to produce alternative fuels (biochar) from peanut shells, reeds and charcoal dust.

In cooperation with the Sector Project Technical Expertise for Renewable Energy Application (TERNA), the programme has supported the power provider Senelec and the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique in building two wind measuring facilities. Calculations for the coastal strip between Dakar and St. Louis point to a potential for wind power that even today would enable electricity generation at competitive rates. In response, the programme is now backing a feasibility study, finalised in May 2010, for a 50 Megawatt wind park."

Further information can be accessed at the project website.