Promoting renewable energy

The aim of providing efficient and affordable energy supply to all Gambians, irrespective of where they live, can only be achieved with the use of renewable energy.

In The Gambia, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower could be very helpful in meeting our energy demands.

Each of these renewable energy sources provides an alternative to traditional energy generation, and can be reproduced, reducing our dependency on the environment.

With the validation of the draft renewable energy law for The Gambia done in December last year coupled with the ongoing efforts by the stakeholders, the expectation is that the country in that regard is moving towards the right direction.

It is our firm conviction that the renewal energy law, when enacted, will set the enabling environment and framework for promoting renewable energy based mini-grids for productive users in the rural areas of The Gambia.

However, encouragement of the private sector to invest more in renewable energy production is key, if we are to reach our target of electrifying the whole country.

The current high dependency on fuel in The Gambia has, no doubt, led to several extremely negative consequences such as limiting the financial capacities of stakeholders, and also makes it difficult for Gambians to afford electricity supply.

Since the need for electricity is very important for the socio economic development of our country, and many of our people cannot afford to pay for the current power supply systems, we need to venture into renewable energy.