The Ministry of Petroleum and Gas and the Ministry of Energy and Hydraulic Resources share responsibility for the energy sector. SEEG, the national electricity and water service company of Gabon, was under a concession to the French company Veolia from 1997. In 2019, SEEG was renationalized and holds the monopoly on power production and distribution. Gabon hydropower provides more than half (51 percent) of Gabon’s current 2,000 gigawatt (gw) of electricity per year, from an installed capacity of 720 megawatt (mw). In 2020, the SEEG launched its emergency water and electricity plan to rehabilitate its 5 mw Bongolo hydropower plant with the aim of restoring its installed capacity and improving supply to the region. The project will cost nearly $12.7 million. Construction of several hydropower projects is planned but there have been several years of delays and search for funding. World Bank studies indicated that Gabon’s nine provinces would require an installed capacity of at least 1,250 mw by 2040. However, closer to 1,850 mw will likely be needed to power planned industrialization for new processing enterprises to transform Gabon’s natural riches such as timber, manganese, and iron, which are currently exported as raw materials.
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