Is Mali ready to scale up renewables?

The Ministry, working through the Mali Renewable Energy Agency (AER-Mali), has initiated a partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to assess Mali’s readiness to scale up renewables.

What is Mali's energy mix?

In 2019, Mali’s energy mix was dominated by biofuels and wastes (65%) and oil products (32%), with coal and hydro accounting for the rest. In 2020, less than 5% of the population had access to clean cooking and 52% had access to electricity.

How many people in Mali have access to electricity?

In Mali, less than half of the population has access to electricity, whereas in rural areas access is limited to only 16.7% of the population. In terms of modern fuels, access is extremely low, at only 2% and 3% for rural and urban areas, respectively. Energy access is widely recognised as essential to improve economic welfare.

What are the main sources of electricity in Mali?

At present, thermal and large-scale hydropower plants are the main sources of electricity supply on the national grid. Renewable energy could provide the most competitive form of power in Mali due to today’s advanced technological reliability, declining technology costs and high resource potential.

Why is the RRA process difficult in Mali?

Mali’s RRA process has faced various obstacles due to the lack of readily available statistical data to enable an assessment of critical energy sector indicators (e.g. total primary energy supply, energy consumption per sector, rural electrification rate).

Will Mali achieve universal access to electricity by 2030?

For clean cooking, Mali targets universal access by 2030. In recent years, the rate of access to electricity in Mali has surpassed 25%, thanks to a public focus on mini-grid solutions. The government of Mali now plans to increase hybridisation of its mini-grids by adding PV capacity to diesel power plants.