Revitalization with obstacles (and a happy ending)

The revitalization of the PV systems in the four villages in Cameroon is progressing. However, as an entrepreneur, you encounter unforeseen events every day. The trick is to know how to deal with them. And, frankly, in Africa you learn to improvise very quickly.

Our mission in Cameroon

We are currently expanding four photovoltaic systems (each around 140kW/p) and electrical installations in four communities and making them more efficient. A total of 1,188 households are already being supplied with electricity, with each household comprising an average of 5-7 people. Small businesses also obtain electricity from the photovoltaic system. The number of households to be supplied and the electricity consumption per household are continuously increasing. This has a positive impact on SunErgy's revenues, as we operate here as a traditional electricity provider and every additional kWh consumed means additional revenue.

As a result of modernization and expansion, more households are being supplied with electricity and connected as consumers. The four communities of Kotto Up, Kotto Mission, Kotto Nachtigall, and Matouke are located in the Littoral region (meaning “coast”) with the capital city of Douala, which, with a population of just under 2.8 million, is considered the economic center of Cameroon.

Here is a brief overview of the latest challenges and how we dealt with them.

EWIA's pan-African structure proves to be an advantage

We have already installed four hybrid inverters in Kotto Up. Due to the complex and delayed delivery situation, we imported them overland from Nigeria to Cameroon.

Our subsidiary EWIA Green Energy Nigeria Ltd. (more about it here) organized the procurement, including transport to the Nigerian-Cameroonian border. Our subsidiary SunErgy sent a transporter from our office to the border by land and then took delivery of the goods.

The inverters have now been installed and tested in Kotto Up. There are 320 households with around 1,600 residents and various small businesses to be supplied in Kotto Up. Only three of the hybrid inverters were installed there, with the fourth being installed in the village of Matouke. This was absolutely necessary to ensure at least a minimum level of production and power supply in Matouke. Otherwise, there was a risk of the batteries in Matouke becoming deeply discharged. Matouke currently supplies 253 households with around 1,650 residents and various small businesses.

Two villages fully supplied again – after an inverters odyssey

Long-standing networks and business relationships pay off. Through MPower's Zurich office, we were able to organize the procurement of additional inverters. MPower is active in various African countries and operates its own company and warehouse in Cameroon, among other places. The CEO of MPower is Manuel Seife, a former colleague of EWIA CEO Ralph Schneider from their time together at Yingli Solar. MPower is primarily active in the solar sector (standard systems for consumers, which are preconfigured in China and have standard sizes between 1 and a maximum of 10 kWp). However, we were able to procure materials through their logistics structure, thanks to the aforementioned warehouse and stockpiling in China. The import and customs documents had to be prepared by SunErgy Cameroon.

Four additional inverters were ordered and delivered by air freight with a stopover in Kenya, but the delivery was delayed several times. The inverters were stuck in Nairobi. The reasons why they were not delivered to Cameroon were unclear. After the transport date was postponed five times, the inverters finally reached the customs warehouse in Cameroon, where they were quickly picked up by MPower and handed over to SunErgy. The inverters have also already been installed. As a result, the villages of Kotto Up and Matouke once again have a full energy supply.

The next steps

The additional inverters required are currently being sourced. We plan to procure these together with the new village that is being planned. At the same time, woodworking and wood procurement are currently in full swing.

But this is only the beginning, the dress rehearsal, so to speak, because 82 more villages in Cameroon are to be electrified. We estimate investments of approximately 400,000 euros per village. With 82 villages, we are talking about around 33 million euros.

Stay tuned!

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