First of all, it is important to clarify that the real issue is not the outage itself. Power cuts will always exist, everywhere in the world. The real question is: how long do they last ?
How many do we experience in a year? And above all, can we reduce this downtime to almost zero thanks to a more resilient network?
To fully understand the phenomenon, several, though not exhaustive, factors deserve attention: the reliability of the grid and its indicators, the impact of climate, the state of the interconnected network, production versus growing demand, the aging of equipment, the way outages are managed, and finally, the solutions that could bring lasting improvements.
A tropical climate that wears out the grid
Gabon has an equatorial climate: hot and humid, with two distinct seasons, a long rainy season from September to May, and a shorter dry season from June to August. During the rainy season, rainfall in Libreville alone can exceed 2,500 mm annually, combined with high humidity and frequent thunderstorms. These conditions accelerate corrosion of power lines, weaken insulators, and multiply the risks of failure. Lightning often causes instant blackouts, while constant heat prematurely wears down materials.
Climate also drives demand. During the rainy season, high and persistent heat pushes consumption up, with heavy use of air conditioning and fans. It is also the time when most weather-related incidents occur: poles knocked down by storms, flooding in substations, or even traffic accidents caused by rain that damage infrastructure.
In the dry season, the picture changes: milder temperatures lower demand, there are no heavy rains or lightning strikes, and fewer technical disruptions occur. This temporary relief gives the impression that outages are gone, but it is only an illusion. For the other nine months of the year, the grid faces relentless pressure, both from demand and weather conditions.
TIN: A thermometer of service continuity
To measure the quality of electricity supply, one key indicator is the TIN (Temps d’Interruption Normé, or Normalized Interruption Time), which represents the average duration of outages experienced by a customer over a given period. Although other indicators like SAIDI and SAIFI provide more precision, TIN remains a useful benchmark.
Between 2014 and 2024, Gabon’s average TIN has fluctuated dramatically: from just a few minutes in 2015 to over 1,800 minutes in 2019 — dozens of hours of outages. The ten-year average stands at around 539 minutes per year (≈9 hours), far above international standards: around 10 minutes in France and 50 minutes in Morocco.
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Behind these national averages lie stark regional disparities. From 2014 to 2023, Booué, Makokou, and Mitzic recorded the highest TIN, averaging around 12, 9, and 7 minutes of outages per day respectively.
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In 2024, the hardest-hit towns shifted: Tchibanga, Port-Gentil, and Minvoul faced cumulative outages exceeding 100 hours over the year. For many citizens, outages remain an almost daily experience.
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Why so many outages?
The causes are multiple and cumulative.
First, the Gabonese grid is divided into several interconnected zones (RIC Libreville, Franceville, Louetsi, etc.), but these zones are not linked together. This means that when one region has surplus capacity, it cannot transfer power to another facing shortages.
Production is another bottleneck. Demand grows by 3-4% per year, driven by urbanization, population growth, and major projects such as the new airport, the new administrative city (Libreville 2), and new industrial and agro-industrial zones. Supply often struggles to keep pace.
Then comes the issue of aging equipment. Some facilities are more than 20 years old and have never benefited from preventive maintenance. Most interventions are done in curative mode, only when a major breakdown occurs, which extends downtime and increases the risk of repeated failures.
Finally, outage handling itself is slow. Most faults are still detected manually, after user reports, with teams then dispatched to physically locate and repair the issue. This takes time, especially when the area to inspect is wide. Yet, modern solutions exist: remotely controlled overhead switches in distribution networks, for example, can instantly isolate faulty sections and restore power to unaffected customers. But today, most major investments still target generation, whereas customers feel the impact most strongly in distribution.
Towards a more resilient grid
Reducing outage duration to just a few minutes is not a fantasy, but it requires a comprehensive strategy and consistent investment. It’s not just about producing more, it’s about investing across the entire chain: generation, transmission, distribution, and even customer service.
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In generation, Gabon needs to diversify energy sources, integrate more renewables with storage, and reinforce reserve margins to handle consumption peaks.
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In transmission, the priority is securing protection systems with equipment that can instantly isolate faults and prevent cascading failures.
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In distribution, modernization means deploying remotely controlled switches and implementing smart grids, intelligent networks that detect, isolate, and restore power automatically without human intervention.
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On the customer side, precise tracking of incidents and transparent communication can help anticipate and manage critical periods more effectively.
For these measures to succeed, the share of the national budget allocated to energy must rise from 1-2% to at least 5-10%, sustained over the long term. Electricity must be treated as a strategic, permanent investment, not a temporary expense.
To think that Gabon could one day completely eliminate outages is to ignore the realities of our climate and infrastructure. The real challenge is elsewhere: building a grid capable of detecting and resolving outages quickly, so that they become rare, brief, and almost invisible to customers.
Reaching this goal requires a clear vision, strong political will, and sustained investment across the entire energy system. The road will be long, at least 15 to 20 years, but a transformation is possible.
A Gabon where blackouts no longer disrupt daily life or economic development is not a utopia. It is a realistic perspective, provided we start working toward it now.
Steven OBAME
