Chad Powers 37% of Grid With Solar Despite 12% Access

Chad has become Africa's second-ranked country for solar power penetration, with sun-powered systems now supplying 37% of the nation's electricity.

The Central African nation has installed 110 megawatts of solar capacity across homes, businesses, and small grids. That's enough to make solar the country's biggest electricity source, even though only 12% of Chadians currently have access to power at all.

The numbers tell a story of creative deployment. Rooftop systems on homes account for 35 MW, while 63 MW comes from utility-scale installations and another 11 MW from minigrids serving remote villages.

Despite producing oil since 2003, Chad never converted those revenues into widespread electricity. Now the government is betting big on sunshine instead.

The country's first major solar park, a 50 MW facility called Noor Chad, will start operating in 2025 to power the capital N'Djamena. Six more large projects totaling 350 MW are already under construction or development.

The Ripple Effect

Chad's solar push shows how renewable energy can work differently in developing nations. Without existing coal plants or transmission lines to protect, countries can skip straight to distributed solar systems that reach rural communities faster than traditional grids ever could.

The government plans to boost the electrification rate from 12% to 90% by 2030. That means connecting 10 million people to power in just five years, combining both large solar farms and thousands of small off-grid systems.

To speed things up, Chad eliminated taxes on imported solar equipment and removed value-added tax from renewable energy components. With grid electricity costing up to 23 cents per kilowatt-hour, solar systems are already cheaper than diesel generators in many areas.

The "Chad Connection 2030" plan calls for 520 MW of new solar capacity as part of an 886 MW renewable energy expansion. The goal is to raise renewables to 30% of the electricity mix, though solar already exceeds that target in current generation.

Challenges remain, including ongoing disputes over nationalized oil assets that have delayed some solar projects backed by petroleum revenues. But the momentum is clear: Chad is building its energy future on sunshine, not fossil fuels.

Nearly 35 MW of rooftop solar already powers Chadian homes without waiting for grid connections, proving that energy access doesn't always require massive infrastructure.