The Central African Republic (CAR) has inaugurated a 50-megawatt solar power plant near Bangui, approximately one year after construction began. The Abu Dhabi-based developer behind the project, Global South Utilities (GSU), states that the facility will increase the country's electricity generation capacity by more than 60%.

For a country whose total installed generation capacity has historically hovered below 50 MW — largely reliant on diesel-fired plants concentrated around the capital — the addition represents one of the single largest power infrastructure investments in CAR's post-independence history.

GSU, which both built and owns the plant, said in a statement that the facility is expected to supply electricity to more than 300,000 households.

The project is located in Sakaï, roughly 10 kilometers from the capital, and includes battery storage designed to stabilise the grid. Battery storage is particularly relevant for CAR, where chronic grid instability and load shedding have long constrained even the limited urban electrification that exists. However, GSU's reported storage capacity has differed across public statements, cited at 10 MWh during the August 2025 groundbreaking and later at 15 MWh at the inauguration ceremony.

Significance for CAR's Digital Ambitions

Only 18.2% of CAR's population had access to electricity as of 2024, according to World Bank data, placing the country among the lowest electrification rates on the African continent and globally. The figure masks an even sharper urban-rural divide, with rural electrification estimated in the low single digits. More than a decade of civil conflict since 2013 has severely damaged transmission and distribution infrastructure, deterring investment and leaving large parts of the country effectively off-grid.

Reliable power supply is considered essential for expanding connectivity, digital services, and the broader technology ecosystem, making this solar plant a significant infrastructure development for a nation that has largely remained on the periphery of Africa's digital economy discussions. CAR is also one of the few countries to have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2022, an initiative whose practical rollout has been hampered by the very connectivity and energy limitations the new plant could partially address.

GSU Managing Director and CEO Ali Alshimmari said concessional financing from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development contributed to delivering the project. The plant follows an economic partnership agreement signed between CAR and the United Arab Emirates in March 2025, covering trade and investment across key sectors — part of a broader pattern of Gulf state investment in African energy infrastructure, particularly in markets where traditional Western development finance has been limited.

The development adds to GSU's regional portfolio, which includes a similarly sized 50MW solar plant the company previously built in Chad, indicating a growing Emirati footprint in Central African energy markets where diesel dependency and generation shortfalls remain acute.

Central African Republic officials attended the inauguration ceremony, though the extent of any government co-investment or ownership stake in the project was not specified in available statements.

Separately, President Faustin-Arche Touadéra had requested assistance from Russian President Vladimir Putin in addressing the country's energy challenges during a meeting in March, highlighting the range of international partners CAR is engaging to meet its power infrastructure needs. The parallel engagements with both Abu Dhabi and Moscow reflect CAR's strategy of diversifying its infrastructure partnerships as it seeks to expand access to electricity that most of its population has never had.