Cameroon’s Nachtigal plant tops 3.6 TWh output, but outages persist

Cameroon’s Nachtigal hydroelectric plant has injected 3,613,785 MWh into the national grid since becoming fully operational in May 2025. The figure, equivalent to roughly 3.6 terawatt-hours over one year, was released by Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (NHPC).

Located at Ndokoa, about 70 kilometres northeast of Yaoundé, the facility has an installed capacity of 420 MW distributed across seven generating units of 60 MW each.

Billed as Cameroon’s most powerful hydroelectric plant, Nachtigal is expected to meet close to 30% of the country’s electricity needs. NHPC also reports an availability rate above 94% and a maintenance activity completion rate of 99%, indicators the company says reflect the plant’s industrial reliability.

More generation, persistent outages

Yet this surge in output has not brought an end to power cuts. Households and businesses in several cities continue to suffer recurring outages even as significant new capacity has been added to the electricity system. The paradox highlights a structural constraint: producing more power is not enough when transmission networks, transformer substations, local distribution infrastructure and supply-demand balancing do not keep pace.

“Between the production facility, which is Nachtigal, and the consumer, there is a great deal of equipment that does not belong to NHPC,” said Nicolas Bec, the company’s operations director. He pointed specifically to transmission lines, transformer substations and distribution networks as the essential links needed for power generated at the plant to actually reach end users.

NHPC notes that its role is primarily that of an independent power producer. Electricity generated at Nachtigal is transmitted through a 225 kV line stretching 51 kilometres and linking the plant to the Nyom II interconnection substation on the northern outskirts of Yaoundé. Beyond that point, transmission and distribution fall to other actors within the electricity system.

“According to Sonatrel’s figures, Nachtigal has injected more than 3 TWh into the grid. How that energy is ultimately used is the responsibility of the transmission and distribution companies, not the producers,” Bec said.

Transmission and distribution under scrutiny

Bec also noted that Nachtigal is a run-of-river hydroelectric facility. Unlike a conventional reservoir dam, it does not store energy over time. Power generated must be delivered to the grid in real time.

“At midday on June 4, the plant was producing around 200 MW. Because Nachtigal is a run-of-river facility, that electricity has to be delivered to the grid in real time. The power is being generated and fed into the system. The issue is what happens afterwards. Between the producer and the consumer are transmission lines, substations and distribution networks. If electricity is not reaching end users, those parts of the system deserve close attention,” he said.

The persistence of outages raises a central question: does Cameroon’s electricity system still suffer primarily from a generation deficit, or increasingly from shortcomings in transmission, distribution and operational governance? The arrival of Nachtigal is shifting the terms of the debate. With the country now holding significant additional generation capacity, constraints in electricity delivery, network congestion and dispatch decisions are becoming the determining issues.

Within this fragmented structure, NHPC generates power, Sonatrel handles transmission, and distribution falls to the national distributor. Coordination among these actors is therefore essential to prevent available energy from delivering little visible benefit to households and businesses.

Bec stressed the need for this cooperation. Supplying the greatest number of users, he said, depends on the ability of the different operators to work together on a daily basis. The distributor determines generation schedules based on demand, while Sonatrel ensures real-time grid balancing. NHPC, for its part, communicates the availability and performance of its installations.

The threat of unpaid bills

Beyond the technical dimension, the situation also raises questions about the financial sustainability of the sector. Producers must maintain their installations, carry out upkeep and guarantee continuity of service in an environment where cash-flow pressures can weaken the entire electricity supply chain. NHPC said it has made arrangements to continue its operations, while warning that a sustained build-up of unpaid bills could, over time, weigh on the company’s normal functioning.

Nachtigal’s full commissioning represents a major step forward for Cameroon. But it also reveals that the electricity crisis can no longer be assessed solely through the prism of generation. The challenge is now systemic: strengthening the grid, improving distribution, clarifying operational responsibilities and restoring the sector’s financial balance. Without that, even the megawatts currently being produced risk failing to translate into a lasting improvement in service for consumers.

Ludovic Amara