Of the country's total installed capacity of about 1,640 MW in 2019, 1,015 MW is hydropower. Much of this energy is consumed by industrial sources, notably the Aluminium du Cameroun (ALUCAM) smelter near Edea [ 48 ].
Mas'ud et al. assessed the solar energy readiness in Cameroon by highlighting the irradiation pattern across the country. Abanda underscored that the mean solar irradiance is roughly 5.8 kWh/m 2 /day in the northern regions, while it's in the range of 4.0–4.9 kWh/m 2 /day in the southern regions of the Country.
In the specific case of Cameroon, a more in-depth knowledge of the country's hydropower potential could have influenced power infrastructure development policy and led to improved energy access rate.
Cameroon's energy consumption shows that biomass, electricity and petroleum are three main sources of energy. Biomass consumption accounts for 74.22%, followed by petroleum (18.48%) and electricity (7.30%), as illustrated by Figure 2.
The total hydropower generation capacity in Cameroon is currently 720 MW and is distributed as follows: The first phase of development of the run-of-the-river hydropower plant at Edea occurred between 1949 and 1953, when EDEA I was constructed and equipped with three units of 11.5 MW each.
Overall, a total of 21 sites have been deemed acceptable and the 11 most relevant sites based on the available head (especially those with a head of more than 200 m) are mapped in Fig. 12. The overall pumped-storage potential of Cameroon could therefore be estimated at 34 GWh and depicted as in Fig. 13. Fig. 12.