Project Overview
OVERVIEW
In 2015, approximately 90.3% of households in Suriname had access to electricity. Those not served included 135 villages in rural hinterland areas and home to approximately 54,000 Maroons and 8,000 indigenous inhabitants.
The main obstacle to achieving the Government’s goal of universal access by 2033 is poor electricity infrastructure in hinterland communities. Hinterland areas are served by diesel units operated by the Department for Rural Energy, Ministry of Natural Resources; and high logistics and other operating costs have limited the reliability of the service typically leaving residents with 4 – 6 hours of electricity per day.
The lack of reliable access to electricity has stymied socioeconomic opportunities in many rural hinterland communities and reduces economic and social cohesion within the country. Poverty affects 47.9% of the rural hinterland population compared to 26.2% in the urban centres. The Government of Suriname has, therefore, initiated a Sustainable Energy for All programme, and inaugurated its first rural solar microgrid in 2018. In 2022, a total of 1,400 GWh of electricity was generated, 47% was attributed to renewable energy while 53% was supplied by fossil fuels.
The project will install hybrid renewable micro-grid systems providing ten rural villages and 1,906 residents in Cajana and Galibi with 24 hours of electricity supply daily; reducing disparities in the supply of social services, work opportunities and income; and improving economic and social cohesion within the country.
This transformative project will not only result in the solar power stations, the design of five (5) additional solar hybrid systems , and the combined generation of 1,023 MWh of electricity per year as outputs - it will also result in:
• the direct creation of 40 temporary and 10 permanent jobs.
• avoided consumption of 600,000 litres of fossil fuel and emission of 162 tons of CO2 annually.
• preparation of the design and a plan for the electrification of the remaining five additional clusters
