Not gonna lie, as much as I commend the government for the ambitious steps it’s taking, their understanding of Somalia’s economy still feels very surface level. They often lack proper tracking of the progress being made, have incomplete info on different sectors, and rely too much on outdated or faulty statistical metrics (which they kind of admit to, but still publish anyway).
Take electricity, for example. In most urban centers, private metro-grid companies have already upgraded their systems. A few years back it was mostly low-mid voltage with lots of system losses, but now we’re seeing 11Kv and even 33Kv grids with proper substations. Basically, it’s become high-voltage, efficient, and modern a completely different reality from the picture old stats suggest.
I shared a video where they actually explain this:
Another video that explains this transition as well:
At 1:10 a representative from BECO explains how they reformed the entire power system in Mogadishu more than a decade back, before that everything used to be low voltage, now they have 11Kv systems, 33Kv systems and subs stations just like any other city in the world.
At the @2:21 they explain how the cost burden has been lifted from many consumers , they now have access to cheaper, more reliable energy, the electricity is always on and they interviewed a business owner who said they now pay less than 20 cent for a more powerful supply: And another explains that they now can run all their machines much easier
Also, it’s pretty ironic. They acknowledge that Somalia has over 60% electricity access thanks to its microgrid systems in 2022, but then they compare Somalia’s ''total power generation'' side-by-side with countries that run on a single centralized national grid. Of course the total generation will look lower a national grid is built to serve the whole country in one system, while microgrids are meant to power specific towns, regions, or clusters. The point of microgrids isn’t to rival a mega-grid in raw output, but to give reliable, localized access where people actually live and work.
I’m not going to make a firm claim on exactly how much Somalia relies on solar and renewables, because the numbers aren’t always clear. BECO said in 2022 that 20% of their energy came from solar, and that by 2025 they aimed to supply 75% of Somalia with electricity, with 80% of it coming from renewables. I don’t know if they’ve fully reached that target yet. Hormuud said that 85% of their equipment relies on solar energy which implies high usage throughout the country and they invested in solar powered data centers as well which requires high energy output to sustain.
What we do know is that places like Garowe are already heavily renewable ,NECSOM reported that 90% of the city’s power comes from a wind/solar hybrid system with battery storage. In Hargeisa, a solar plant with 20 MW capacity was launched to cover 80% of the city’s households.
Somaliland President Musa Bihi Abdi on Wednesday launched solar power plant which has the capacity to generate a total of 20 megawatts of electricity. According to a statement from the presi…
somalilandstandard.com
Somaliland President Musa Bihi Abdi on Wednesday launched solar power plant which has the capacity to generate a total of 20 megawatts of electricity.
According to a statement from the presidency said that renewable energy project is to provide electricity to 80 percent of population living in the capital Hargeisa.
Galkacyo also installed a hybrid solar power plant next to its existing substation last year.
It does seem like they are installing Solar panels everywhere, from office building, businesses ,houses, storages , agricultural irrigation, water supply . I wouldn't be surprised if half of Somalia is using Solar, perhaps even more.
There’s more I could say, but the per capita and GDP stats are way off. I really became convinced of this once I dug into how distorted Somalia’s exports and imports actually are. I’ll save the full breakdown for another place since it’s long and there is a list of examples i noted down, but it’s exactly what
@Midas pointed out before Somali businessmen set up offices in hubs like the UAE, Nairobi, Turkey etc while keeping operations in Somalia.
That setup explains a lot. It suddenly makes sense how fishermen now earn $1k–3k a month, or how banana farmers average around $18k a year. It’s tied to the value chains Somali companies have built, where they control multiple stages from production, to processing, to trade so more of the profit and reinvestment circles back into the Somali economy.
So you can imagine how much these planned transformation investments could boost incomes in the coming years. It’s going to be exciting to see but only if local companies control the process. Otherwise, the profits will just be sent abroad, and workers will be stuck with low local wages.
I also don’t get these growth projections by 2050 or 2060 etc. What exactly are they basing them on? I read through the plan and couldn’t find a clear rationale behind the numbers. Honestly, they sound like complete lowball estimates in many of them and underestimation in others.