[02] Rural villages and suburban slums in Sénégal

'After initiating the project in Brazil, we wanted to start a second project, this time in Africa', recalls Dôme. 'We chose Sénégal because it is representative of sub-Saharan African income and energy requirements.'

The people without energy access in Sénégal are mainly situated in rural areas and in the large slums around urban Dakar. 'In rural areas, it is not realistic to develop an electricity network that is capable of supplying all of the remote villages,' says Dôme. 'But this does create a major opportunity for renewable energy systems like photovoltaic panels, although the energy storage is still an issue. In the suburban slums, on the contrary, trying to generate all electricity by renewable systems is not realistic. A better solution in these locations is to generate electricity by conventional power plants and distribute it by an electricity network. Moreover, such a network makes it possible to develop street lighting. This large-scale electricity network can then still be complemented by small renewable energy systems if expedient.'