Senelec

Summary

Senelec (Société nationale d'électricité du Sénégal) is the national electricity company of Senegal.

A Senelec agency at Ziguinchor in the Casamance region

History edit

Senelec was established in 1983 after the nationalization and merging of Électricité du Sénégal and Société sénégalaise de distribution d'électricité.[1] In 1998, the Agency for Rural Electrification (ASER) and the Electricity Regulatory Board were split from Senelec and the company was put up for privatization.[2] In 1999, the consortium of Hydro-Québec and Elyo (Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux) bought 34% of Senelec's shares. The deal was annulled by President Abdoulaye Wade in March 2000, and Hydro-Québec and Elyo withdrew from Senegal in January 2001.[3]

The company represents Senegal in the West African Power Pool.

Operations edit

Senelec has a production capacity of 632.9 MW, 90 MW of which comes from the Manantali Hydroelectric Power Plant in Mali; however, the electricity output is only 519.4 MW due to aging and faulty equipment.[4] The company has 2,500 employees and 645,000 customers.[5]

In 2006, Senelec got 88 billion CFA francs (US$185 million) of subsidies and its arrears alone amount to 1.5% of GDP.[6]

Senelec planned a new coal-fired power station 35 km SE of Dakar, the Sendou power station, with a net capacity of 115 MW. This proposed coal-fired power plant was cancelled on December 12, 2019, as a result of the government's desire to comply with commitments made at COP21, known as the Paris Agreement, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The power plant will instead run on natural gas.[7]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "senegal". Oracle. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  2. ^ "Senegal Country Commercial Guide 2008" (PDF). United States Commercial Service. 2008-02-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  3. ^ Levon Sevunts (2001-05-14). "A river of disease: Canada-backed dam contributes to 8,500 African deaths a year". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  4. ^ Hamadou Tidiane Sy (2008-06-21). "Senegal Receives $80 Million World Bank Loan for Power Upgrade". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  5. ^ Boucar Diouf (2009-02-13). "Energie : Peut-on mieux faire avec ce que l'on a ? (Energy: Can we do better with what we have?)" (in French). Walf Fadjri. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  6. ^ Alistair Thomson (2007-06-12). "IMF team in Senegal look at spending, transparency". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  7. ^ "Senegal's Govt replaces Sendou coal-fired power plant with gas-fired one". Energy News | Oil and Gas News. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2020-06-01.

External links edit

  • Company website (in French)