28/05/2026
To prevent frustrating holiday blackouts and fix the country’s chronic power crisis permanently, the Government of The Gambia must look beyond short-term fixes and address the deep structural, financial, and technical failures within the energy sector.
A sustainable, long-term solution requires action across four major areas:
1. ACCELERATE THE UNBUNDLING AND REFORM OF NAWEC
The government has already moved forward with a plan to dismantle NAWEC into two single-purpose companies: the Gambia National Electricity Company (GNEC) and the Gambia National Water Company (GNWC). The government must execute this transition without delay to ensure:
•OPERATIONAL FOCUS: Isolating the power grid allows management to focus entirely on electricity generation, transmission, and cutting down massive system losses without being stretched across water management.
•STRICT ACCOUNTABILITY: Clearer regulatory oversight by PURA to penalize operational failures.
2. CLEAR GOVERNMENT ARREARS AND STABILIZE FINANCES
NAWEC’s deep financial distress directly impacts its ability to provide reliable power. State-owned enterprises and government ministries (such as Health and Defense) historically owe NAWEC hundreds of millions of dalasis in unpaid bills.
•PAY THE DEBT: The central government must immediately settle outstanding public sector utility bills so NAWEC has the liquidity to maintain equipment and buy fuel.
•FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROTECTIONS: Because massive chunks of our power are cross-border imports (from Senegal’s Senelec) or contracted private generation, NAWEC is highly vulnerable to the depreciation of the dalasi. The Central Bank needs to create mechanisms to help secure stable foreign exchange rates for utility payments, preventing crippling debt accumulation.
3. BALANCE GENERATION WITH DISTRIBUTION (END "ACCESS TO DARKNESS")
A major policy flaw has been expanding the distribution grid to hundreds of new communities without matching that expansion with actual power generation. This overloads an already fragile network.
•BOOST DOMESTIC BASELINE POWER: Relying heavily on cross-border imports leaves the country vulnerable during regional peak-demand periods (like holidays). The government needs targeted, heavy investment in domestic base-load power plants.
•MODERNIZE THE TRANSMISSION GRID: Upgrades to primary substations and transmission lines must be completed urgently to handle peak demand fluctuations and prevent the localized transformer blowouts that frequently happen during holidays.
4. AGGRESSIVELY DIVERSIFY INTO RENEWABLE ENERGY
The Gambia cannot rely entirely on heavy fuel oil (HFO) or external contracts forever.
•SOLAR AND STORAGE INTEGRATION : The government must swiftly scale up solar initiatives, like the Soma solar park project, and ensure they are backed by robust battery storage systems (8\text{MWh} or larger) to feed the grid when the sun goes down.
•OFF-GRID SOLAR INFRASTRUCTURE: Mandate that public infrastructure—such as municipal streetlights—be transitioned entirely to standalone solar power, removing massive, unnecessary strain from the main national grid.NAWEC
