By Seedy Jobe
Facing mounting public scrutiny over the country’s reliance on foreign energy, executives at The Gambia’s state utility defended their strategy on Friday, arguing that cross-border electricity imports—heavily insulated by government subsidies—remain the only viable way to keep the lights on and bills affordable for ordinary citizens.
At the same time, officials sought to pivot toward a greener future, announcing that the government has greenlit a major 150-megawatt solar initiative intended to eventually decouple the West African nation from its neighbors’ grids.
The defense of the country’s energy policy came during a Friday broadcast of the current affairs program The Grand Bantaba on Kerr Fatou, where Buba Badjie, the public relations officer for the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC), addressed critics who view the country’s dependence on regional power networks as a vulnerability.
“Why do we depend on OMVG?” Mr. Badjie said, referring to the Organisation for the Development of the Gambia River Basin, a regional partnership that links the power grids of Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia. “One, it is easier. Two, it is cheaper.”
Mr. Badjie noted that importing power allows NAWEC to retail electricity to Gambians at 13.85 dalasis (about $0.20) per kilowatt-hour—a rate he indicated would be impossible to maintain without regional imports and substantial state intervention.
“True, the government is the reason we don’t sell you electricity at D50 per kilowatt-hour,” Mr. Badjie said. “That’s because of subsidies. If it were just NAWEC producing with our thermal plants, our generators that use gas oil and fuel, then the cost of electricity would exceed this.”
For years, sub-Saharan African nations have grappled with the dual challenges of aging infrastructure and the exorbitant costs of running diesel-dependent thermal generators. The OMVG interconnection project was envisioned as a solution, pooling resources from resource-rich neighbors like Guinea, which possesses vast hydroelectric potential, to lower regional costs.
Yet, reliance on the 225-kilovolt transmission line has drawn fire from domestic critics who argue it undermines The Gambia’s energy sovereignty and stalls local production.
Mr. Badjie pushed back against allegations of stagnation, citing recent performance reviews by international monitors. “If you look at the SOE [State-Owned Enterprises] Commission report or check the World Bank page, you will see that NAWEC has made progress; it didn’t have many years ago,” he said.
To counter assertions that NAWEC is actively blocking independent power producers or dragging its feet on renewable energy, Mr. Badjie disclosed that land has been allocated for a 150-megawatt solar project, which will be rolled out in phases.
“No, absolutely not. Right now, as I’m speaking, the Gambia Government has allocated us land and given the green light to install a 150MW solar plant. But we have divided it into two stages,” he disclosed.
The initial 50-megawatt phase, located in the central town of Jarra Soma, has reached an advanced stage, according to Mr. Badjie, who said that engineering and environmental assessments are complete.
“All the papers are ready,” he said. “All feasibility studies, whatever needs to be studied, we have done it. What is left is to sign the contract.”
Until that local capacity comes online, however, the country will remain heavily dependent on the OMVG’s 225-kilovolt transmission line. Yet Mr. Badjie framed the infrastructure not as a crutch, but as a gateway to a more dynamic, regional energy marketplace—one where The Gambia might eventually shift from a buyer to a seller.
“That’s why, with OMVG, if you see we have a 225 line, that’s how we are able to buy electricity from other countries and bring it here. We will also reach a level where we will sell it to other countries,” he added.
To illustrate his point, Mr. Badjie described a highly integrated regional grid where electricity flows based on geographic proximity rather than national borders. For instance, he noted that a blackout at the Brikama substation in The Gambia would plunge the nearby Senegalese town of Seleti into darkness, just as the Gambian town of Farafenni draws its power from networks tied to Jarra Soma rather than Dakar.
“It’s a business,” Mr. Badjie said. “You look at what is easiest.”
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