Difference between revisions of "Benin Energy Situation"

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| colspan="4" style="text-align: center" | '''Benin'''<br/>
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| style="text-align: center;" colspan="4" | '''Benin'''<br/>
 
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Capital<br/>
 
Capital<br/>
  
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| style="width: 247px;" | <br/>Porto Novo
 
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Official language(s)<br/>
 
Official language(s)<br/>
  
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<br/>
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Frrench<br/>
  
 
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Government<br/>
 
Government<br/>
  
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<br/>
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Presidential Democracy<br/>
  
 
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President<br/>
 
President<br/>
  
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<br/>
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Boni Yayi<br/>
  
 
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Prime Minister<br/>
 
Prime Minister<br/>
  
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Pascal Koupaki
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Total area<br/>
 
Total area<br/>
  
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<sup></sup><br/>
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112.622 sqkm<br/>
  
 
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Population<br/>
 
Population<br/>
  
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8.971.944
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GDP (nominal)<br/>
 
GDP (nominal)<br/>
  
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<br/>
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5.433 Mio US$<br/>
  
 
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GDP Per capita<br/>
 
GDP Per capita<br/>
  
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<br/>
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692 US$<br/>
  
 
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Currency<br/>
 
Currency<br/>
  
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<br/>
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CFA<br/>
  
 
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Time zone<br/>
 
Time zone<br/>
  
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<br/>
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UTC+1<br/>
  
 
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Calling code<br/>
 
Calling code<br/>
  
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<br/>
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+229<br/>
  
 
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{| align="left" style="width: 350px;" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"
 
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| __TOC__
 
| __TOC__
  
 
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<div style="clear: both"></div>
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<div style="clear: both;"></div>
 
= Overview<br/> =
 
= Overview<br/> =
  
<font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-language: de">Benin’s energy balance of 2006 shows that 59.4 % of the total energy consumption derives from biomass, whereas only 2 % derive from electricity and 38.4 % from oil products. The country solely depends on imports to satisfy its petroleum product demand, while 85% of its electricity consumption is answered by imports from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Households account for 48% of the country’s total electricity consumption followed by the institutional sector and the industrial sector, which account for 32% and 24% respectively. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">Although in the five past years the final total energy consumption has perceptibly increased, the structure of final energy consumption has not changed.</span></font> <span lang="EN-US">Length of Domestic Transmission and Distribution Lines 5620 km, <span lang="EN-US">Transnational Lines 618 km.</span></span>
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<font face="arial"><span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-language: de;">Benin’s energy balance of 2006 shows that 59.4 % of the total energy consumption derives from biomass, whereas only 2 % derive from electricity and 38.4 % from oil products. The country solely depends on imports to satisfy its petroleum product demand, while 85% of its electricity consumption is answered by imports from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Households account for 48% of the country’s total electricity consumption followed by the institutional sector and the industrial sector, which account for 32% and 24% respectively. </span><span lang="en-us" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial;">Although in the five past years the final total energy consumption has perceptibly increased, the structure of final energy consumption has not changed.</span></font> <span lang="en-us">Length of Domestic Transmission and Distribution Lines 5620 km, <span lang="en-us">Transnational Lines 618 km.</span></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">'''Number and Length of Power Cuts:'''</span></span></span><span>Approximately 2800 hours of electricity cuts due to rationing and just over 620 hours of unscheduled cuts.</span>
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<span lang="en-us"><span lang="en-us"><span lang="en-us">'''Number and Length of Power Cuts:'''</span></span></span><span>Approximately 2800 hours of electricity cuts due to rationing and just over 620 hours of unscheduled cuts.</span>
  
 
Not clear how many of these unscheduled cuts were due to weather induced equipment failure or simply equipment failure due to the age of the system, vandalism etc.
 
Not clear how many of these unscheduled cuts were due to weather induced equipment failure or simply equipment failure due to the age of the system, vandalism etc.
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== Major Challenges<br/> ==
 
== Major Challenges<br/> ==
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">The energy sector is under constant pressure from different challenges.</font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">The energy sector is under constant pressure from different challenges.</font></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial"><u>However, main issues in the energy sector are as follows:</u></font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial"><u>However, main issues in the energy sector are as follows:</u></font></span>
*<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Non-sustainable use of biomass</font></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">: Around 80% of the population depends on the use of biomass for cooking needs. While consumption has increased between 1997 and 2002 at an annual rate of 5 %, forest areas were reduced by 39 %. This results in a massive degradation of forest resources.</font></span>
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*<u><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Non-sustainable use of biomass</font></span></u><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">: Around 80% of the population depends on the use of biomass for cooking needs. While consumption has increased between 1997 and 2002 at an annual rate of 5 %, forest areas were reduced by 39 %. This results in a massive degradation of forest resources.</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black; font-family: symbol; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de"><span style="mso-list: ignore"><span style="font: 7pt 'times new roman'"></span></span></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Low access rate to electricity in rural areas</font></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">: while the national power board SBEE has increased the electrification rate in urban areas from 20 to 52.4 % since 1990, only 2 % of rural areas are connected to the grid. At the same time, around 60% of the population lives in rural areas.</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-family: symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol;"><span style="mso-list: ignore;"><span></span></span></span><u><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Low access rate to electricity in rural areas</font></span></u><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">: while the national power board SBEE has increased the electrification rate in urban areas from 20 to 52.4 % since 1990, only 2 % of rural areas are connected to the grid. At the same time, around 60% of the population lives in rural areas.</font></span>
*<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black; font-family: symbol; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de"><span style="mso-list: ignore"><span style="font: 7pt 'times new roman'"></span></span></span><font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de">Electricity generation constraints</span></font></u><font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de">: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-language: de">Since early 2007, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-fareast-language: de">Benin has been going through an energy crisis due to curtailed supply from its neighbors Ghana and C</span></font><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  font-family: 'arial unicode ms','sans-serif';  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-fareast-font-family: calibri;  mso-fareast-language: de;  mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin">o</span><font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-fareast-language: de">te d’Ivoire. Lack of operational capacity at the distribution utility SBEE did reinforce the crisis. Following a brief recovery at the end of 2007 after the rainy season, in mid-2008 Benin was again subject to energy shortages. However, <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  font-family: 'arial','sans-serif';  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de;  mso-bidi-language: ar-sa">the long term stability in the target region is assured. The reasons are ongoing investments in transmission lines interconnecting North and South Benin, Benin and Togo as well as Benin and Nigeria and the intended extension of generation capacities conducted by '''Compagnie Electrique du Bénin (CEB)'''.</span></span></font>
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*<u><span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-family: symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol;"><span style="mso-list: ignore;"><span></span></span></span><font face="arial"><span lang="en-us">Electricity generation constraints</span></font></u><font face="arial"><span lang="en-us">: </span><span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-language: de;">Since early 2007, </span><span lang="en-us" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-fareast-language: de;">Benin has been going through an energy crisis due to curtailed supply from its neighbors Ghana and C</span></font><span lang="en-us">o</span><font face="arial"><span lang="en-us" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-fareast-language: de;">te d’Ivoire. Lack of operational capacity at the distribution utility SBEE did reinforce the crisis. Following a brief recovery at the end of 2007 after the rainy season, in mid-2008 Benin was again subject to energy shortages. However, <span lang="en-us">the long term stability in the target region is assured. The reasons are ongoing investments in transmission lines interconnecting North and South Benin, Benin and Togo as well as Benin and Nigeria and the intended extension of generation capacities conducted by '''Compagnie Electrique du Bénin (CEB)'''.</span></span></font>
  
 
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== Main Actors<br/> ==
 
== Main Actors<br/> ==
  
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">There are four main actors in the electricity sector:</font></span></u>
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<u><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">There are four main actors in the electricity sector:</font></span></u>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black; font-family: symbol; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de"><span style="mso-list: ignore"><span style="font: 7pt 'times new roman'"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Commu</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">naute Electrique du Benin</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">(CEB): CEB is a bipartite utility supplying electricity to national distribution utilities in Benin and Togo (around 85% of generation capacity).</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-family: symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol;"><span style="mso-list: ignore;"><span></span></span></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Commu</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">naute Electrique du Benin</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">(CEB): CEB is a bipartite utility supplying electricity to national distribution utilities in Benin and Togo (around 85% of generation capacity).</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">(SBEE): Responsible for electricity distribution and local generation through diesel generators (around 13% of generation capacity).</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">(SBEE): Responsible for electricity distribution and local generation through diesel generators (around 13% of generation capacity).</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black; font-family: symbol; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de"><span style="mso-list: ignore"><span style="font: 7pt 'times new roman'"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Agence Beninoise d’Electrification Rurale et de Maitrise d’Energie</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">(ABERME): responsible for rural energy supply (established in 2004).</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us" style="color: black; font-family: symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: symbol; mso-fareast-language: de; mso-fareast-font-family: symbol;"><span style="mso-list: ignore;"><span></span></span></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Agence Beninoise d’Electrification Rurale et de Maitrise d’Energie</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">(ABERME): responsible for rural energy supply (established in 2004).</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Ministere de l'Energie et de L'Eau (MEE)</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">: responsible for the national energy policy and coordination of the activities in the energy sector.</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Ministere de l'Energie et de L'Eau (MEE)</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">: responsible for the national energy policy and coordination of the activities in the energy sector.</font></span>
 
 
  
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<br/>
  
 
<br/>
 
<br/>
  
== <font face="Arial">Policy Framework</font><br/> ==
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== <font face="arial">Policy Framework</font><br/> ==
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">In order to tackle the challenges in the energy sector the government of Benin has formulated the <u>Policy and Strategy Document for the Development of the Electricity Sector</u> that provides the long term vision and the strategy of the country by 2025.</font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">In order to tackle the challenges in the energy sector the government of Benin has formulated the <u>Policy and Strategy Document for the Development of the Electricity Sector</u> that provides the long term vision and the strategy of the country by 2025.</font></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial"><u>The overall energy strategy can be summarised as follows:</u></font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial"><u>The overall energy strategy can be summarised as follows:</u></font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">strengthening the legal and institutional framework;</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">strengthening the legal and institutional framework;</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">ensuring reliable electricity supply to support economic activities and achieve the national energy security and an efficient energy delivery system with an optimal energy resource mix;</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">ensuring reliable electricity supply to support economic activities and achieve the national energy security and an efficient energy delivery system with an optimal energy resource mix;</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">increasing energy access to population through new power generation plants, regional interconnection and rural electrification;</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">increasing energy access to population through new power generation plants, regional interconnection and rural electrification;</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">promoting private investments in the power sector by creating the enabling market environment for private sector participation</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">promoting private investments in the power sector by creating the enabling market environment for private sector participation</font></span>
*<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">promoting energy efficiency in all sector.</font></span>
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*<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">promoting energy efficiency in all sector.</font></span>
  
 
<br/>
 
<br/>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Regarding <u>rural electrification</u>, it aims at providing 150 villages p.a. with access to electricity in order to achieve a rural electrification rate of 30–40 % by 2015. Furthermore, promoting the dissemination of improved stoves and other renewable domestic energy sources are additional objectives of the strategy to tackle the energy challenges in rural areas.</font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Regarding <u>rural electrification</u>, it aims at providing 150 villages p.a. with access to electricity in order to achieve a rural electrification rate of 30–40 % by 2015. Furthermore, promoting the dissemination of improved stoves and other renewable domestic energy sources are additional objectives of the strategy to tackle the energy challenges in rural areas.</font></span>
  
<font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  line-height: 150%;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de">In the run of the <u>energy sector reform</u>, which gained considerable momentum in recent months (mainly due to growing World Bank interest in the sector), the establishment of a <u>Rural Electrification Fund </u>is being discussed. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;  line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">It shall incorporate a concession model with minimum subsidy bidding. The Fund is intended to bundle investments of donor agencies designated to rural electrification. Rural regions covered by the SBEE grid will also be concessioned<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'">(15 concess</span></span>ions in total). However, basic features of this instrument are yet unclear such as regulation, payment authorisation and tariffing. Experiences in Senegal and Mali, furthermore, expose a very limited interest of private enterprises to compete for such funds. Concerning the national and even regional private sector, the mobilisation of financial resources is less an impediment than lacking capacities to implement privately run electricity concessions in Benin.</span></font>
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<font face="arial"><span lang="en-us">In the run of the <u>energy sector reform</u>, which gained considerable momentum in recent months (mainly due to growing World Bank interest in the sector), the establishment of a <u>Rural Electrification Fund </u>is being discussed. </span><span lang="en-gb" style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: arial;">It shall incorporate a concession model with minimum subsidy bidding. The Fund is intended to bundle investments of donor agencies designated to rural electrification. Rural regions covered by the SBEE grid will also be concessioned<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span>(15 concess</span></span>ions in total). However, basic features of this instrument are yet unclear such as regulation, payment authorisation and tariffing. Experiences in Senegal and Mali, furthermore, expose a very limited interest of private enterprises to compete for such funds. Concerning the national and even regional private sector, the mobilisation of financial resources is less an impediment than lacking capacities to implement privately run electricity concessions in Benin.</span></font>
 
 
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;  mso-ansi-language: en-gb;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><font face="Arial">The reform process goes along with a shift in responsibilities for rural electrification from SBEE to ABERME. It is, furthermore, planned to split up SBEE into an asset management and a distribution management company.</font></span>
 
  
 +
<span lang="en-gb" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: arial;"><font face="arial">The reform process goes along with a shift in responsibilities for rural electrification from SBEE to ABERME. It is, furthermore, planned to split up SBEE into an asset management and a distribution management company.</font></span>
  
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== Key Problems Hampering Access to Electricity<br/> ==
 
== Key Problems Hampering Access to Electricity<br/> ==
  
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"></span>
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<span lang="en-gb" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: arial;"></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Although the Government of Benin clearly defined a strategy for rural electrification, the objective of achieving a rural electrification rate of 40% in 2015 is highly ambitious due to the following reasons:</font></span>
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<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Although the Government of Benin clearly defined a strategy for rural electrification, the objective of achieving a rural electrification rate of 40% in 2015 is highly ambitious due to the following reasons:</font></span>
  
<font face="Arial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de">SBEE is far from being capable of achieving these goals due to <u>insufficient financial capacities</u>: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">SBEE’s indebtedness is 9 times as high as its turnover and financial losses are increasing continuously, since the supply costs per kWh exceed the retail price; not only but mainly in areas provided by diesel generators</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de">.</span></font>
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<font face="arial"><span lang="en-us">SBEE is far from being capable of achieving these goals due to <u>insufficient financial capacities</u>: </span><span lang="en-us" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: en-us; mso-bidi-font-family: arial;">SBEE’s indebtedness is 9 times as high as its turnover and financial losses are increasing continuously, since the supply costs per kWh exceed the retail price; not only but mainly in areas provided by diesel generators</span><span lang="en-us">.</span></font>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">In addition to the financial bottleneck, one important reason is the <u>lack of knowledge about low-cost alternatives </u>to the business as usual scenario of grid extension. This scenario was designed originally for urban areas based on high technical “EDF” standards that are inappropriate for rural areas.</font></span>
+
<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">In addition to the financial bottleneck, one important reason is the <u>lack of knowledge about low-cost alternatives </u>to the business as usual scenario of grid extension. This scenario was designed originally for urban areas based on high technical “EDF” standards that are inappropriate for rural areas.</font></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-bidi-font-family: arial;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de"><font face="Arial">Furthermore, for political reasons, SBEE focuses on the <u>extension of the grid to previously non-electrified regions</u>, instead of increasing the number of connected households in proximity to the grid.</font></span>
+
<span lang="en-us"><font face="arial">Furthermore, for political reasons, SBEE focuses on the <u>extension of the grid to previously non-electrified regions</u>, instead of increasing the number of connected households in proximity to the grid.</font></span>
  
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;  color: black;  font-family: 'arial','sans-serif';  mso-ansi-language: en-us;  mso-fareast-font-family: 'times new roman';  mso-fareast-language: de;  mso-bidi-language: ar-sa">Although some responsibilities for rural electrification have been shifted to ABERME, the agency proved to be incapable of driving the electrification process. <u>Lack of capacity</u> is the main reason, especially the lack of engineering expertise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span></span>
+
<span lang="en-us">Although some responsibilities for rural electrification have been shifted to ABERME, the agency proved to be incapable of driving the electrification process. <u>Lack of capacity</u> is the main reason, especially the lack of engineering expertise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>
  
 
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Revision as of 11:08, 22 October 2013

Benin


Capital


Porto Novo

Official language(s)

Frrench

Government

Presidential Democracy

President

Boni Yayi

Prime Minister

Pascal Koupaki

Total area

112.622 sqkm

Population

8.971.944

GDP (nominal)

5.433 Mio US$

GDP Per capita

692 US$

Currency

CFA

Time zone

UTC+1

Calling code

+229

Overview

Benin’s energy balance of 2006 shows that 59.4 % of the total energy consumption derives from biomass, whereas only 2 % derive from electricity and 38.4 % from oil products. The country solely depends on imports to satisfy its petroleum product demand, while 85% of its electricity consumption is answered by imports from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Households account for 48% of the country’s total electricity consumption followed by the institutional sector and the industrial sector, which account for 32% and 24% respectively. Although in the five past years the final total energy consumption has perceptibly increased, the structure of final energy consumption has not changed. Length of Domestic Transmission and Distribution Lines 5620 km, Transnational Lines 618 km.

Number and Length of Power Cuts:Approximately 2800 hours of electricity cuts due to rationing and just over 620 hours of unscheduled cuts.

Not clear how many of these unscheduled cuts were due to weather induced equipment failure or simply equipment failure due to the age of the system, vandalism etc.

In Benin, biomass (firewood and charcoal) remains the dominant source of energy, followed by petroleum products and, to a lesser degree, electricity.

The country is 100% dependent on petroleum imports, making it vulnerable to dollar exchange rates and fluctuations in oil prices. Moreover, fluctuations in fossil fuel prices compromise Benin’s domestic capacity to develop its energy services. In 2007 national electrification was 25% overall although rural access was estimated to be less than 2%. (1990:8,6% of households access to Electricity / 2005: 23,2 %, absolut change in percentage +15 %)


While Benin has a large hydroelectricity potential only one major hydroelectric site currently functions. Development of over 80 pre-identified sites using micro-hydro applications would help Benin increase its energy resilience.

The country has a huge and untapped renewable energy potential. Although with low levels of domestic capital formation and little internal capacity (engineers, technicians etc.) this potential is not being realised. The absence of hazard or siting maps for equipment installation means that Benin’s existing energy infrastructure remains extremely vulnerable to anticipated climate change impacts. While Benin’s National Adaptation Plan of Action notes the necessity of an emergency response plan to deal with the impacts of metrological extreme events, this plan has yet to be developed.


Land Ownership and Participation

A rural land act has been introduced but there is no law covering urban land ownership.

Participation Trend toward decentralised governance, but capacity-building is needed.


Major Challenges

The energy sector is under constant pressure from different challenges.

However, main issues in the energy sector are as follows:

  • Non-sustainable use of biomass: Around 80% of the population depends on the use of biomass for cooking needs. While consumption has increased between 1997 and 2002 at an annual rate of 5 %, forest areas were reduced by 39 %. This results in a massive degradation of forest resources.
  • Low access rate to electricity in rural areas: while the national power board SBEE has increased the electrification rate in urban areas from 20 to 52.4 % since 1990, only 2 % of rural areas are connected to the grid. At the same time, around 60% of the population lives in rural areas.
  • Electricity generation constraints: Since early 2007, Benin has been going through an energy crisis due to curtailed supply from its neighbors Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Lack of operational capacity at the distribution utility SBEE did reinforce the crisis. Following a brief recovery at the end of 2007 after the rainy season, in mid-2008 Benin was again subject to energy shortages. However, the long term stability in the target region is assured. The reasons are ongoing investments in transmission lines interconnecting North and South Benin, Benin and Togo as well as Benin and Nigeria and the intended extension of generation capacities conducted by Compagnie Electrique du Bénin (CEB).


Main Actors

There are four main actors in the electricity sector:

  • Communaute Electrique du Benin(CEB): CEB is a bipartite utility supplying electricity to national distribution utilities in Benin and Togo (around 85% of generation capacity).
  • Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique(SBEE): Responsible for electricity distribution and local generation through diesel generators (around 13% of generation capacity).
  • Agence Beninoise d’Electrification Rurale et de Maitrise d’Energie(ABERME): responsible for rural energy supply (established in 2004).
  • Ministere de l'Energie et de L'Eau (MEE): responsible for the national energy policy and coordination of the activities in the energy sector.



Policy Framework

In order to tackle the challenges in the energy sector the government of Benin has formulated the Policy and Strategy Document for the Development of the Electricity Sector that provides the long term vision and the strategy of the country by 2025.

The overall energy strategy can be summarised as follows:

  • strengthening the legal and institutional framework;
  • ensuring reliable electricity supply to support economic activities and achieve the national energy security and an efficient energy delivery system with an optimal energy resource mix;
  • increasing energy access to population through new power generation plants, regional interconnection and rural electrification;
  • promoting private investments in the power sector by creating the enabling market environment for private sector participation
  • promoting energy efficiency in all sector.


Regarding rural electrification, it aims at providing 150 villages p.a. with access to electricity in order to achieve a rural electrification rate of 30–40 % by 2015. Furthermore, promoting the dissemination of improved stoves and other renewable domestic energy sources are additional objectives of the strategy to tackle the energy challenges in rural areas.

In the run of the energy sector reform, which gained considerable momentum in recent months (mainly due to growing World Bank interest in the sector), the establishment of a Rural Electrification Fund is being discussed. It shall incorporate a concession model with minimum subsidy bidding. The Fund is intended to bundle investments of donor agencies designated to rural electrification. Rural regions covered by the SBEE grid will also be concessioned(15 concessions in total). However, basic features of this instrument are yet unclear such as regulation, payment authorisation and tariffing. Experiences in Senegal and Mali, furthermore, expose a very limited interest of private enterprises to compete for such funds. Concerning the national and even regional private sector, the mobilisation of financial resources is less an impediment than lacking capacities to implement privately run electricity concessions in Benin.

The reform process goes along with a shift in responsibilities for rural electrification from SBEE to ABERME. It is, furthermore, planned to split up SBEE into an asset management and a distribution management company.



Key Problems Hampering Access to Electricity

Although the Government of Benin clearly defined a strategy for rural electrification, the objective of achieving a rural electrification rate of 40% in 2015 is highly ambitious due to the following reasons:

SBEE is far from being capable of achieving these goals due to insufficient financial capacities: SBEE’s indebtedness is 9 times as high as its turnover and financial losses are increasing continuously, since the supply costs per kWh exceed the retail price; not only but mainly in areas provided by diesel generators.

In addition to the financial bottleneck, one important reason is the lack of knowledge about low-cost alternatives to the business as usual scenario of grid extension. This scenario was designed originally for urban areas based on high technical “EDF” standards that are inappropriate for rural areas.

Furthermore, for political reasons, SBEE focuses on the extension of the grid to previously non-electrified regions, instead of increasing the number of connected households in proximity to the grid.

Although some responsibilities for rural electrification have been shifted to ABERME, the agency proved to be incapable of driving the electrification process. Lack of capacity is the main reason, especially the lack of engineering expertise.


Further Information

References