Sudan is a developing nation in Northeast Africa with a population of around 47 million people. The World Bank report from 2023 shows 15.3% of the population living under the international poverty rate ($2.15), 49.7% living under the lower middle-income poverty rate ($3.65) and 86.2% living under the upper middle-income rate ($6.85). While these figures make for grim reading, there are many positives that things are and could continue to get better soon for people due to the further incorporation of renewable energy in Sudan. Renewable energy resources are already improving people''s lives by helping to bring clean water and solar-powered energy to towns and villages.
Renewable energy is energy from natural resources which are “replenished at a higher rate than consumed” such as wind, solar and geothermal. These types of resources are also currently playing a major role in helping to improve people’s lives in Sudan and will play an even bigger role in the future.
Through improved technology and investment, renewable energy in Sudan is improving people’s lives and lifting many out of poverty. UNICEF highlighted how in 2023, funding built a solar-powered mini water yard for a small, remote village Gelhanty in eastern Sudan giving communities a safe water source. The water source brought reliable and clean water to around 1,500 people, meaning that women and children in this area no longer had to trek long distances to collect water from unsafe streams.
The new source allows villages water for domestic use such as drinking, cleaning and agricultural purposes. The water yard also prevents women and children from carrying the burden of long trips for unclean water that can cause water-borne diseases.
Another success story of renewable energy in Sudan comes from a UNFPA program that piloted a renewable energy program in Abu Jebiha. Partnering with global aid, the program installed a solar panel system at Abu Jebiha Hospital.
Before the installation of the solar panels, the hospitals'' electricity would often be cut out, meaning people could not get the treatment they needed, including women in the maternal ward, which decreased the chances of babies surviving. Now, however, this renewable-powered electricity is seeing great results. Hospital facilities now operate 24/7 including in the maternity ward, operation rooms, blood bank refrigerators, administration offices, incubators and medicine storage.
Previously due to the lack of electricity, the hospital could not operate at capacity as the power would only last for two to three hours a day and patients often had to provide their power source. This successful solar power story means the project is expanding to cover more health facilities.
These examples show the great work that aid agencies are doing in Sudan to bring essential resources such as water and health care to the communities in the country. However, despite all the successful work, there is a lot more to do and this is just the start of Sudan''s renewable energy program.
Sudan is a country with plenty of renewable and natural energy resources. According to AFSIC, “Sudan has abundant resources for renewable energy, including solar, wind and hydro power. The country has one of the highest solar radiation rates in the world, with the potential to generate up to 15 GW of solar energy.” For reference, 1 GW of energy, equivalent to 1 billion watts, is enough to power up to 750,000 homes.
Sudan has already made major progress towards its renewable energy program, with many large-scale projects to bring a better life for communities already under way. One example of this is government’s plans for the building of a 100 MW solar panel farm in the city of Dongola and a 50 MW wind farm in the Red Sea state, according to AFSIC. The Sudanese government also aims to achieve a total of 5 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
Sudan''s blessing of renewable energy is good news for a country that is still struggling with poverty, however, for things to further improve more investment is needed to put new infrastructure in place so that success stories such as clean water yard and solar power supplying a hospital with reliable electricity becomes more commonplace and widespread throughout the country.
– Lachlan Wellington
Lachlan is based in Fareham, UK and focuses on Technology and Global Health for The Borgen Project.
“The Borgen Project is an incredible nonprofit organization that is addressing poverty and hunger and working towards ending them.”
Sudan is enjoying the highest incidence of solar power in the world, and has a surface area of 1,890,000 km2. Electricity from fossil fuel and hydro sources reaches 34 % of the total population—covering 57 % of the urban and 16 % of the rural population. There are plans to reach 95 % of the urban population by 2016. Despite this plan, however, no more than 28 % of the rural population can be covered. This is a clear challenge for the implementation of renewable energy sources.
A project for the promotion of solar energy was launched in 2001 comprising workshops, exhibitions and lectures. Implementation started in the following years resulting in a photovoltaic (PV) electricity supply reaching 7000 families in the rural areas. 150 healthcare units, schools, water supply, groceries and village cultural clubs were served. By 2005/2006 these efforts had succeeded in supplying electricity to 1000 villages, including in-house equipment for the service units.
A target was set to supply PV electricity to 1,100,000 homes in the rural areas over the following 20 years. The scheme was launched in 2012 in the most northerly States.
The work is perceived as a case study in the field of implementation, covering policy making, finance, strategies, education and sustainability of a PV electricity supply for rural areas.
A novel feature is the launch of a project called ''Barrier Removal to Secure PV Market Penetration in Semi-Urban Sudan''. The approaches used to carry out the various activities were discussed and evaluated and found to be highly effective for achieving the objectives.
The socio-economic impacts were clearly noticed from the start.
The success encouraged the project workers to fulfill the challenge of securing PV electricity for more than one million homes.
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The author would like to acknowledge the help and assistance received from Sudan''s Minister of Water Resources and Electricity and the Directorate of Renewable Energy. The help received from the Director of Energy Affairs, and the Ministry of Petroleum, Policies and Evaluation was invaluable. The great help of Ingi, Randi and Rinad in editing and formatting the outcome are well appreciated.
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Policies and ethics
This activity report presents GEF’s work in Sudan to promote solar photovoltaic systems and bring much needed electricity to homes across the country. The GEF solar photovoltaic project seeks to build capacity and awareness and to help the Sudanese government develop policies and regulations that will create an environment favorable to the use of this clean technology.
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