Public Electricity Supply in Portuguese Guinea, 1930-1974
Guinea-Bissau has a chronically underperforming electricity sector that fails to provide most of the population outside of the capital, Bissau, with access to electricity – nowadays considered a basic human need. Little is known about the evolution of this large socio-technical system. Archival rese...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2025-06-01
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| Series: | HoST |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2025-0005 |
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| Summary: | Guinea-Bissau has a chronically underperforming electricity sector that fails to provide most of the population outside of the capital, Bissau, with access to electricity – nowadays considered a basic human need. Little is known about the evolution of this large socio-technical system. Archival research reveals the conditions under which the electricity supply and distribution system was set up. Between the 1930s and 1950s, a system of isolated mini-grids was established in the capital, Bissau, and the towns of the interior. It was expanded in the 1960s and adapted to military needs during the Bissau-Guinean war of independence (1963-1974). Maintenance was a major challenge for the colonial administration. The systems of isolated mini-grids suffered from poor technical quality of the installations, poor maintenance, lack of administrative management capacity, and consumers not paying for their consumption. Post-colonial Guinea-Bissau inherited an electricity sector with systemic challenges that persist to this day. |
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| ISSN: | 1646-7752 |