The government has fixed targets of providing electricity for 85% of rural areas by 2025 and achieving universal access to electricity for its population of around 1.7m by 2035. The objectives were set out in the Policy Letter for Universal Access for Basic Services in Rural Areas, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in September 2014, and which also noted that only 15% of rural areas had electricity as of 2014.

Achieving these targets will be a tall order, taking into account that tropical forest covers 85% of Gabon, and that the country has a population density of seven inhabitants per sq km, compared to an average of 30 per sq km for Africa as a whole, according to African Development Bank statistics from 2011. Gabon has around 3000 villages with populations of 50-1000 people.

Supplying power to all the consumers in the country