Gambia Outdoor Power Installation

The existing electricity network in The Gambia consists of a number of separate 33 kV and 30 kV systems fed from local power plants throughout the country. On-going projects are developing the transmission grid to interconnect these systems and establish interconnections with neighbouring systems.

The Gambia is poised to provide access to electricity for all its people. His Excellency, President Adama Barrow has stipulated that there is to be Universal Access by 2025. Given its unique geography, the country is fortunate in being able to achieve universal access almost exclusively through connections to the NAWEC grid.

An unprecedented level of support from the international community provides The Gambia with the opportunity to transform the energy sector and emerge as one of the leading energy sectors in the sub-region and the African continent. In this context, the Electricity Roadmap has undergone its third update since 2015.

The Gambia has significant solar energy resources which can be deployed via solar PV plants, which have become price competitive with thermal plants and attractive for advancing national renewable energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. IRENA (2018) has estimated national solar potential at 428 MW.

The roadmap represents the strategic masterplan for the electricity sub-sector of The Gambia fully consistent with the macroeconomic, energy, investment and climate-related policies of the government of The Gambia and embodies the high-level vision of the Government for the development of the sector over the next 20 years.

The Roadmap was financed by the World Bank, and Task Team Leader Chris Trimble played a key role in reviewing all of the technical background reports. The first electricity roadmap for The Gambia was developed in 2015 and updated in 2017, to serve as the development blueprint for the electricity sub-sector in the short-to-medium term.