By Binta Jaiteh
Lamin K Marong, the Senior Energy Officer at the Ministry of Petroleum has confirmed that the strategic aim of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is to reduce Gambia’s dependency rate on fuel importation and improve access to affordable efficient energy for the population which also reduces capital for new production units (especially peaking) GHG emissions due to the consumption of fossil fuels to meet its international obligations on climate change.
In his presentation at the launching of the National Energy Strategy, he highlighted the main barriers to Energy Efficiency in the Gambia. He said regulatory, technical, financial, and informational regulatory barriers unavailability are of key mechanisms targeting EE such as MEPS, energy labeling of appliances, EE building code, mandatory energy audits for large consumers, and EE public procurement rules.
According to him, the objective is to create an enabling environment for EE, including local capacity building to prepare and implement EE investments to also strengthen and increase the competitiveness of the Gambian economy in the residential, industrial, and commercial sectors that the Gambia has committed to implementing EE measures across energy sectors residential, commercial, and industrial.
Mr Marong went on that the need for the regional policies and initiatives to be adopted and implemented in the Gambia thus the progress made at the regional level can stimulate the market transition in the Gambia, He disclosed that the total energy consumption in the Gambia in 2019 was around 752,500 TOE and the residential sector is the highest consumer of energy (Biomass and Electricity) with 62% of the Total Energy Consumption.
The electricity mix, he lamented, is highly dependent on fossil fuel (completely imported), since renewable energy represents 3% of the total generated electricity, and The Gambian developed 2017 an electricity sector roadmap that was updated in 2021 according to the BAU Scenario the electricity demand is expected to grow with an average increase of more than 10% per year.
