Yemen is now one of the world’s most energy insecure and poor country, with most of the country lacking access to sustainable and renewable energy. In general, energy supply in Yemen has been limited, and characterized with weak generation capacity, high electricity losses from the grid (about 30% of production capacity), and increasing demand are among the top sector challenges. Yemen had the lowest access rate to electricity (i.e. 40% of the population) compared to the regional rate of around 85 percent. Inequalities in terms access to electricity existed among rural and urban households.
Although rural accounted for about 75% of population, only around 23% had access to electricity compared with about 85% of urban population. Despite the low access rate of electricity, only about half of the population were connected to the public grid, and the other half used to gain access through other private sources including diesel generators, which usually operate for few hours for lightening, and less-intensive electric appliances. Alternative lighting devices had been used by non-grid electrified rural households includes kerosene Lamps (about 67%) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Lamps (about 5%) which had serious environmental and health impacts. On the other hand, renewable energy share was then (before 2011) estimated at about 0.009% of the total energy mix.
Potentials of Renewable Energy in Yemen
Yemen has vast untapped potential of renewable energy sources. Several studies including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the National Determined Contribution under the UNFCCC have indicated the renewable energy potential particularly related to solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass are encouraging. The four naturally renewable sources exist in abundance in Yemen and can be harnessed and utilized to meet the country mounting demand for energy towards low-emission economic growth. A recent study by the Ministry of Electricity has outlined the various aspect of potentiality for five types of renewable energy in Yemen.
Solar Energy Value Chain Studies are included here.