Sudan announced Sunday completing the development of a plan to benefit from solar energy and wind power to produce about 1000 MW of electricity in 2019, increasing the country's electricity capacity to 5520 MW until 2020.
Meanwhile, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has classified Sudan as one of the best African countries with the largest capacity to produce alternative energies, such as solar and wind.
According to IRENA’s rating in which Ethiopia was ranked first among African countries with 4188 MW per year followed by South Africa with 4064 MW, Sudan has the capacity to produce renewable energies up to 1,793 MW per year.
Spokesman of the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity Eng. Mohamed Abdul-Rahim Gawish told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that President Omar al-Bashir has launched an initiative early this year to expand the production of electricity using solar and wind power in the country.
Gawish said that the Ministry has signed agreements with UAE’s Masdar, aka the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, British Due South Energy Ltd and German Prisma Group to establish solar power plants with a total capacity of up to 1000 MW.
Two solar power plants are currently being installed in Al-Abyad and Al-Fashir cities, west of Sudan, with a capacity of five megawatts.
The ministry also signed two agreements with two UAE and Danish companies, Gawish noted, aiming at implementing solar water irrigation plants, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the solar home systems program, which is funded by Sudan’s Savings and Social Development Bank.
He said the government is working on a plan to deliver 1,500 irrigation pumps operating on renewable energy over five years.
Furthermore, the Ministry organized Saturday a workshop entitled “Renewable Energy… Challenges and Prospects” in Khartoum aimed at coordinating and sharing knowledge with Sudanese universities.
The workshop was attended by experts, stakeholders and representatives of companies operating in the solar and wind energy sector in Sudan.
