Chad, a Sub-Saharan African country, aims to increase its power generation capacity by an additional 866 MW by 2030. It will be led by solar technology, contributing 520 MW to the total, according to its National Development Plan called Chad Connection 2030.
While the country touts its mining and oil wealth, only 12% of the country’s population had access to electricity in 2022. It wants to change this under Chad Connection 2030. Chad targets to increase the country-wide electrification rate to 60%, and to 90% for urban areas by ‘fully exploiting’ the country’s solar potential. It will help increase the share of renewable energy in its total electricity production to 30% by the end of this decade, up from 9% in 2024.
To speed up the achievement of this ‘solar-driven’ energy mix by the end of this decade, the government said the plan is to open up electricity management in the provinces to the private sector. It will also open up the market for infrastructure construction and management, for which the state energy regulator will be strengthened to speed up procedures, especially with regard to tenders.
The government plans to let private companies manage electricity and build infrastructure in the provinces in collaboration with the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and other donors, while limiting the focus of the regulator to the national capital, N’Djamena.
Chad has also committed to accelerating the construction of various solar as well as hybrid and thermal power plants, along with that of various national and international power lines and transmission networks. A strategic sector plan for electricity generation, transmission, and distribution is also in the offing as part of structural reforms.
Deploying off-grid electricity access facilities and implementing rural electrification is also part of its vision board. It also aims to equip 500 telecom towers with solar panels in rural areas. Chad aims to become a regional role model in terms of access to electricity.
At the end of 2024, Chad’s total operational solar PV capacity was around 2 MW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
