Policy Memo: Increase Electrification Rate in Cameroon’s Rural Areas Through Subsidization of Distributed Generation
To : The Cabinet of Minister of Water and Energy, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rural Electrification Agency (REA)
From : Ngomba Mvogo Jean Marie
Background
The Cameroon electricity sector is currently plagued by inadequate generation capacity. The electricity supply deficit has had dire consequences on attaining the country’s industrialization, socioeconomic and developmental objectives enshrined in Vision 2035 (Ayuketah, Y., et al.).
Electricity deficit is more amplified in rural areas. The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) revealed in 2019 that only 22% of localities in rural areas were connected to the national electrical grid. Additionally, the quality of service such as frequent outages and fluctuating voltage levels is below international standards.
The Government of Cameroon (GoC) has placed Renewable Energies at the heart of Cameroon’s Socio-economic development (Business in Cameroon, 2024). In rural areas, this translates through photovoltaic solar energy promotion programs, centralized production, off-grid, solar net metering, and solar home metering. The latter has already led to completion of nearly 1,000 domestic installations by private actors (Business in Cameroon, 2024).
GoC has also set a Rural Electrification Master Plan (REMP). This targets the electrification of over 660 villages through a combination of off-grid systems (Diesel, Solar PV, mini-hydro, biomass and hybrid) and grid extension.
In a county where the poverty rate was estimated at 37.7% in 2022, according to the World Bank, and rural poverty reached 52.1% in 2002, as referenced by the National Statistics Institute, promoting access to electricity in rural areas requires strong actions from the public authorities.
That said, access to solar rooftop energy is often difficult due to several factors. In the United States, barriers include finance, physical site suitability, awareness and education (Bourg-Meyer, 2023). In Cameroon, the paramount hurdle is revenue. The initial installation costs of rooftop panels can be high, which makes the investment difficult for households and local communities.
GoC is exploring strong incentive mechanisms based on the national budget to drive down the cost barrier. To this end, the finance law for the 2025 fiscal year has established tax incentives, the most notable of which is the reduction of customs duties on solar rooftop kits. Given their low purchasing power, this helps make them more accessible to rural populations.
During the Africa Energy Forum held in Cape Town in June 2025, the GoC disclosed an updated Renewable Policy Standards (RPS). An RPS is a public policy tool requiring a certain amount of renewable electricity relative to the entire electricity supply (Heeter al., 2019). The RPS with an estimated cost of $12 billion (about 12% of country Gross Domestic Product) plans to connect an additional 8 million people to the grid, increase clean cooking access to 40%, and reduce national energy intensity by 16.9% by the end of the decade. It also aims to boost installed generation capacity to 3,000 megawatts, with at least 10% sourced from renewables (1).
Considerations and recommendations
Policy selection criteria, prioritized according to energy policy goals, include emissions abatement potential, cost, and other key considerations. Therefore, this policy memo recommends the REA to adopt legislative and regulatory bills to fully subsidize importation and distribution of rooftop solar panels in rural areas to increase the rural electrification rate and support the national greenhouse reduction goal of 35% by 2030 (Cameroon Nationally Determined Contribution, 2021).
National Rooftop Solar Program for Rural Electrification
Adopting such a law would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing rural populations—who often lack access to electricity—with clean energy alternatives. In the absence of reliable power, many households rely on kerosene lamps for lighting and wood or charcoal for cooking, all of which have clearly-established negative environmental and health impacts. A large-scale action like rooftop solar panels would allow these low-income communities to gradually move away from these harmful energy sources toward renewable, environmentally protective energy sources. This measure would also have the corollary effect of inevitably increasing the rate of access to electricity. Rooftop solar panels are a clear alternative to the failure of the traditional electrical grid, which lacks human, material, and financial resources to extend the network to remote areas.
To make the law effective, the Government can introduce a budget line dedicated to the exclusive importation and distribution of rooptof solar panels in rural areas. We propose to adopt a budget line of XAF1,000 billion (USD: 1.8 billion) to be collected over a five year period. The line can be financed by a special tax named ‘Support electrification in the rural areas’ and would factor in both a personal and corporate tax. A key part of this policy is having the funds come through a domestic, dedicated national tax.
As an operational actor, REA would be responsible for conducting a comprehensive assessment of needs by using data produced by the National Institute of Statistics on households in rural areas. Overall, a key policy objective is to boost Cameroon’s gross domestic product (GDP) by approximately one percentage point over a five-year period.
Regulatory reform to exclude renewable imports to support local industry and create jobs in-country
The Law No.2011/022 of 14 December 2011 governing the electricity sector in Cameroon says that the aim of the development of renewable energy shall be to introduce and promote renewable energy processing subsectors. The limitation of the law is that it’s not clearly stating the way to promote subsectors. Our policy reform is to revise the law and clearly indicate that promoting subsectors should be through the ban of importation of panel rooftop to create local production industry by 2035.
While in the short term establishing a budget line would be justified to equip households in rural areas with rooftop solar panels, this solution is not sustainable in the long term for a government facing recurrent cash flow challenge. On the other hand, revising law No.2011/022 to prohibit the importation of rooftop solar panels and encourage domestic manufacturing would have undeniable economic benefits. Indeed, the government could implement incentives to attract investors in this sector. The benefits would be palpable : expansion of the local productive base, job creation, reductions in unemployment, and the development of a new domestic tax base.
Notes
Currently, out of a total installed capacity of 1562.4 MW, hydroelectricity and solar contribute 959.6 MW and 30.83 MW, respectively, representing over 63% of Cameroon's energy mix. However, according to the law governing the electricity sector in Cameroon enacted on December 14, 2011, only small-scale hydroelectric installations (mini-hydro, with an installed capacity of 5 MW or less) are considered renewable energy sources. Thus, the country's five large hydroelectric plants (Songloulou, Edéa, Lagdo, Memve’ele, Mekin), with a combined installed capacity of 958 MW and contributing over 61% to the electricity mix, are not included in this percentage.
References
- Ayuketah, Y., et al Power generation expansion pathways: A policy analysis of the Cameroon power system (2022).
- Vero Bourg- Meyer ‘Getting rooftop onto low-and middle income housing. A conversation with Vero Bourg-Meyer of the Clean Energy States Alliance, 2022
- World bank : Cameroun evaluation de la pauvreté 2024.
- National Statistic Institute, 2024.
- Cameroon, 2025 Finance bills.
- Law No.2011/022 of 14 December 2011 Governing the electricity Sector in Cameroon.
- Nationally Determined contribution, updated, 2021.
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