In preparation PURE Power Cameroon
Cameroon — cold rooms at the Foumbot market, a base at Koutaba.
PURE Power Cameroon is prepared with the Bamoun Kingdom and starts where the Noun's tomato trade is: solar cold rooms at the Foumbot food market, priced per crate per day, with a light base at Koutaba, 20 km away, for the workshop, spares, training and the refrigeration technician. An avocado-oil line at Koutaba follows in sequence with studies and capacity confirmation to support deployment.
Program instruments for Cameroon are entered into by PURE Power Cameroon. A program working group with the Bamoun Kingdom has been formed and mandated by His Majesty to prepare the Koutaba base and the Noun cluster. These are the first steps of deployment, laying the foundation for a model to be replicated and scaled across Cameroon.
At a glance
Figures are indicative, drawn from World Bank World Development Indicators, national energy compacts and national statistics, latest available year; full sources on request.
- Population
- 29.9 million (2025)
- Rural population
- 44% (2025)
- Agriculture in employment
- 42% (2025)
- Electricity access, national
- ≈72–74% (2024–2025)
- Electricity access, rural
- ≈43% (2024)
- Clean cooking access
- ≈23–31% (2022–2023)
- Currency
- Central African CFA franc (XAF), pegged to the euro
- Languages
- French and English
1Instruments in place
- A program working group formed with the Bamoun Kingdom for the Koutaba base and the Noun cluster
- Field validation from November 2026: market counts at Foumbot, the Koutaba site dossier and engagement with the administrative authorities; the pilot is sequenced for 2027
- Country program instrument in preparation
2The pilot at Foumbot and Koutaba
Foumbot is the Noun's tomato market: trucks load there daily, and a crate can lose about 30% of its price between dawn and mid-afternoon for want of cold storage.
- Phase 0 — the market unit. Two solar cold rooms at the Foumbot food market, holding tomatoes and peppers at 10–13 °C, priced per crate per day, with a crate pool, charging and a point of sale; a third room as storage is contracted. Grid-assisted with standby backup, and open to all traders on published terms.
- The Koutaba base. A light base 20 km away: workshop, spares, training and the refrigeration technician for the cluster.
- Next. A cold-press avocado-oil line at Koutaba, in sequence with studies and capacity confirmation; business, then household connections under the regulator's authorization.
- What the pilot proves. Utilization, prices, collections and maintenance, verified on a published record — the template for the supply basins and every later town.
Phase 0 sells services, not electricity; later sales take the regulator's rural-distribution authorization.
3Agriculture and value chains
Cocoa passed 300,000 tonnes in 2024/25; cassava, maize and sorghum are grown by three-quarters of farms; plantain, cocoyam, oil palm and — in the West — avocado and coffee complete the picture. Cocoa fermentation and drying, cassava and maize processing, and cold chain for the highland horticulture of the West are the opportunities.
4Energy compact and regulation
Cameroon's National Energy Compact targets universal electricity access, 40% clean cooking and 3,000 MW of capacity by 2030. The electricity law of 14 December 2011 and its 2012 decree govern concessions, licenses and authorizations; the regulator has been developing mini-grid technical requirements, and the first private solar mini-grid authorization has been granted.
5Counterpart institutions
- Energy
- Ministère de l'Eau et de l'Énergie (MINEE); ENEO (utility); SONATREL (transmission); ARSEL (regulator)
- Agriculture
- Ministère de l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural (MINADER)
- Finance
- Ministère des Finances (MINFI)
6Programs the hubs can attach to
- Rural Electrification and Energy Access Project (PERACE, World Bank)
- Modernizing Agricultural Value Chains in Cameroon (World Bank, IFC, GAFSP)
- Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (African Development Bank)
- Mission 300 National Energy Compact
7What is different here
- Climate diversity: crop mix, equipment configuration and seasonal calendars vary by region within one country.
- A pegged currency: the CFA franc's euro peg gives a predictable basis for procurement and financial planning.
- The West, Centre, Littoral and South carry most of the population and economy; deployment starts in the West.
8How deployment runs
The pilot at Foumbot and Koutaba first. Then, as each wave meets its gates:
- Wave 1, from 2028 — the Noun and the West. With the Bamoun Kingdom's institutions in the Noun: pre-cooling spokes in the tomato basins and a hub at Foumban; then Bangangté, Dschang, Mbouda and Bafang.
- Wave 2, from 2029 — corridors. Littoral, Centre and South, served from Douala and Yaoundé.
- Waves 3 and 4 — national. Adamaoua, North and East, from Ngaoundéré, Garoua and Bertoua, as mandates, partners and funding align.
Locations and timing are indicative, in step with Cameroon's National Energy Compact.
9Next step
Field validation starts in November 2026. Engagement runs through the Bujumbura headquarters and the program working group with the Bamoun Kingdom.
A country launch-phase package — site assessment, equipment configuration against local crops and volumes, the partner and program map, and a funding roadmap built on programs already financed in the country — is prepared jointly with the country member for an interested government or funder.