The Government of the Republic of The Gambia through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA), with the financial support from the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) is preparing to launch the “Photovoltaic for Education and Health Project” (PV4EH-Gambia). The ultimate aim of the project is to increase access to reliable energy services, schools and health facilities in rural and urban communities of The Gambia. The project is designed to assure the sustainable provision of electricity powered by solar systems for at least 20 years.

The prefeasibility study carried out by the EU funded Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) in 2018 lays out a path to construct, monitor, and sustainably maintain about 900 PV/battery systems planned for some 100 health facilities and some 800 sites covering the needs of about 1,000 schools throughout The Gambia; totalling to about 6 MW PV on and off-grid installations.

Some 792,000 patients and 400,000 pupils and students attending public schools will directly benefit from the project, as well as well as hundreds of health facility and school staff working and living in the buildings to be electrified with PV systems.

The project is expected to start in mid 2019 with the set up of a technical assistance team, and the launch of the procurement tender. Installations of the first PV systems should take place at the end of 2021 or in 2022 at the latest.