Senegal’s national power utility Senelec signed a memorandum of understanding with Algeria’s state-owned Sonelgaz in Algiers on 3 October 2026, Agence Ecofin reported. The agreement comes a few weeks after Senelec was forced to impose load-shedding, and as Senegal tries to make its domestic gas a pillar of electricity production.
A response to September’s power cuts
The MoU follows a period that exposed weaknesses in Senegal’s power system. In September, several incidents on generating units, combined with constraints on fuel supply, led Senelec to organise rotating power cuts.
Senelec is now turning to an operator with experience across generation, transmission and distribution. The agreement was signed by the heads of the two public companies and is meant to frame their cooperation.
Its content remains vague. The detailed scope, the projects concerned and any financing have not been disclosed. At this stage the MoU sets out an intention to cooperate, not commitments on equipment, investment or timelines.
Algeria links the deal to Senegal’s gas strategy
The Algerian side has tied the cooperation explicitly to Senegal’s gas plans. Algerian Energy and Renewable Energy Minister Mourad Adjal said his country is ready to support Senegal’s Gas-to-Power strategy and to offer its expertise across the whole energy value chain.
That strategy is starting to take physical form. In September, Senegal began laying the northern segment of its gas network, about 85 km long and able to carry up to 300 million cubic feet of gas per day. The network is meant to connect offshore gas resources to power plants and industrial zones.
The link between the two is direct. Fuel supply was one of the causes of September’s load-shedding. Replacing imported liquid fuels with domestic gas would reduce that exposure, but only once the pipeline is complete and the plants can burn gas reliably. That transition requires technical capacity in gas-fired generation and network operation, which is the expertise Sonelgaz is offering.
Sonelgaz’s growing footprint in the region
For Sonelgaz, the agreement extends a growing presence in Africa. In June, the group inaugurated a 40 MW power plant in Niamey and began building a plant of the same capacity in Chad. It is also cooperating with partners on networks, training and skills transfer.
Senegal would be its first major partner on the Atlantic coast. The Niger and Chad projects show the model Sonelgaz has used so far: building and supplying generation capacity, and pairing it with training. Whether the Senegal agreement follows the same path, or stays limited to technical assistance, will depend on the projects the two utilities select.
Financing will shape what follows
Any concrete projects will need funding at a time of tight public finances. Senegal reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on 1 September 2026 for a $2.2 billion programme, which requires corrective action after the disclosure of misreported debt, Reuters reported.
How projects with Sonelgaz are financed will therefore matter as much as their technical content. The options include Senelec’s own resources, public budget, Algerian financing or development partners. None has been specified so far.
What to watch
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The first project-specific agreements under the MoU, with scope, cost and financing.
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Whether cooperation covers plant maintenance and reliability, which caused part of September’s outages.
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Progress on the northern gas network and the conversion of power plants to domestic gas.
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Any recurrence of load-shedding in the coming months.
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Senelec’s fuel import costs as gas supply ramps up.
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Sonelgaz’s next commitments in West Africa beyond Senegal, Niger and Chad.