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Africa & Middle East / Island & remote community

Annobon Island

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts25
Sources reviewed11
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Annobón's island electrification was announced in 2014 as a 5 MW solar microgrid for roughly 5,000 residents and was recorded by a New Jersey government storage study as commissioned in 2015 with 5 MW of PV, 5 MW/10 MWh of GE Durathon sodium-nickel-chloride batteries, 5 MW of diesel generation, twenty Princeton Power BIGI-250 converters, and Princeton EMOS controls. Later evidence does not describe a single stable configuration: Equatorial Guinea's 2024 budget continued to fund a 5 MVA Annobón solar-electrification line, while a cable supplier claims a 4.2 MWp/2.8 MWh hybrid configuration was supplied in 2023 and served 85% of demand by the second quarter of 2024.

Research status
The original project was recorded as commissioned in 2015, but present configuration and availability are not independently established. A 2024 enacted-budget line shows continued spending on 5 MVA solar electrification through 2025-2026. GERITEL's April 2026 retrospective claims that a 4.2 MWp/2.8 MWh system supplied in 2023 covered 85% of residents' demand by Q2 2024. Public evidence does not establish whether the later work was a replacement, rehabilitation, extension, or restatement of the 2015 5 MW/10 MWh system, so July 2026 operating status remains unverified.
Historical classification
Island
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
-1.42211, 5.61951
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Annobon Island?

8 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Eaton

Engineering and electrical-distribution equipment provider for the original 5 MW project, including switchgear, protection, and transformers. [6][7]

Organization

GE

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

GE Power & Water

Supplier of the original energy-storage system and publisher of the project announcement. [3][9]

Organization

GERITEL

Cable supplier claiming delivery in 2023 for a later 4.2 MWp/2.8 MWh Annobón hybrid project; its exact relationship to the 2015 installation is not documented. [11]

Organization

Government of Equatorial Guinea

Project sponsor/owner; its Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy announced the 5 MW electrification project and the national budget continued to carry the investment line in 2024. [4][10]

Organization

MAECI Solar

Selected system integrator and solar-module supplier for the 2014-2015 project. [3]

Organization

Princeton Power Systems

Supplier of twenty BIGI-250 power converters and the EMOS microgrid-control system for the original configuration. [5]

Organization

Wise Power Systems International

Engineering/development participant that later described installing the 5 MW Annobón solar microgrid. [8]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
5000 [1]
Storage
NA [1]
Original commissioned PV capacity
5 MW [3][9][5]
Original commissioned battery rating
5 MW / 10 MWh, two-hour duration, sodium-nickel-chloride GE Durathon technology [9][5]
Original diesel capacity
5 MW in the Princeton system design [5]
Original power converters
Twenty 250 kW Princeton Power BIGI-250 three-port converters [5][3]
2014 planned expansion potential
The Equatorial Guinea government described a 5 MW project with possible future expansion to 10 MW; no reviewed source verifies that 10 MW expansion [4]
2024 public-budget project rating
5 MVA solar PV electrification, including service connections and meters [10]
2023 supplier-claimed later configuration
4.2 MWp PV and 2.8 MWh BESS; the source does not disclose BESS power, duration, chemistry, or manufacturer [11]
Original service objective
Meet 100% of the island's then-current electricity demand and provide 24-hour service to approximately 5,000 residents who previously had reliable power for only about five hours per day [3][4]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Original battery storage

GE — Durathon

Sodium-nickel-chloride high-temperature storage rated 5 MW/10 MWh in the commissioned-system record. GE stopped Durathon production in 2015 after judging it not cost-competitive, and transferred the technology to a joint venture in 2017; no source reviewed identifies Annobón replacement cells or current capacity. [3][9]

02

Original bidirectional converters

Princeton Power Systems — BIGI-250

Twenty 250 kW three-port converters interfacing solar, storage, diesel, and the island grid. [3][5]

03

Original energy-management system

Princeton Power Systems — EMOS

Supervisory controller for dispatch of the solar, storage, diesel, and distribution system. [5]

04

Original electrical distribution

Eaton

Engineering services, switchgear assemblies, circuit protection, and transformers with embedded communications. [6][7]

05

2023 PV cabling

GERITEL — H1Z2Z2-K

Supplier claims 18,500 m of UV- and salt-resistant PV cable for more than 6,000 modules in the later 4.2 MWp configuration. [11]

06

2023 battery and distribution cabling

GERITEL

Supplier claims 12,800 m of H07V-K battery cable for more than 200 battery modules, 6,200 m of YJV 3x70 mm² low-voltage backbone, 6.35 kV armored XLPE medium-voltage cable, and 9,600 m of KVV/KVVP control cable. [11]

07

Undisclosed equipment

Model not publicly disclosed

Reviewed sources do not identify the original PV module make/model, battery unit count, diesel-generator make/model, or the manufacturer/model/chemistry of the 2023 supplier-claimed BESS. [3][5][11]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Original architecture

    The original design combined PV, a two-hour battery plant, diesel generation, three-port converters, and EMOS controls in an island-wide microgrid. GE described storage as balancing intermittent production and demand while operating in tropical heat without air conditioning. [3][5]

  • Commissioning record

    A 2019 New Jersey Board of Public Utilities storage analysis records the 5 MW PV and 5 MW/10 MWh sodium-nickel-chloride system as commissioned in 2015; Wise Power separately describes the 5 MW plant as installed. [9][8]

  • Training plan

    The Equatorial Guinea government announcement said approximately twenty national technicians would be trained to operate and maintain the plant. No follow-up source located verifies completion or identifies the present O&M organization. [4]

  • Original project economics

    Princeton's 2015 presentation cited an installed cost of approximately $3.50/W and an electricity cost of approximately $0.25-$0.35/kWh including fuel. These were project presentation figures, not a later audited tariff or levelized-cost result. [5]

  • 2024 budget continuation

    Equatorial Guinea's 2024 enacted budget lists the 5 MVA Annobón solar-electrification project at CFA 23.155 billion total, with CFA 13.829 billion paid through June 2023, CFA 2.163 billion budgeted for 2024, and CFA 7.163 billion remaining for 2025-2026. The line proves continued public investment, but does not by itself establish whether generation equipment was incomplete, being rehabilitated, or being expanded. [10]

  • 2023-2024 supplier claim

    GERITEL says an unnamed European EPC ordered tropicalized cabling in the 2023 dry season for a 4.2 MWp PV/2.8 MWh BESS hybrid, shipped via Bata. It claims that by Q2 2024 the microgrid met 85% of residents' demand, allowed diesel generators to remain off for long periods, supported continuous hospital refrigeration, and extended night classes to 9 p.m. These retrospective supplier claims were not independently corroborated in the sources reviewed. [11]

  • Configuration conflict

    The 2015 commissioned-system record gives 5 MW PV and 5 MW/10 MWh storage; the 2024 budget uses 5 MVA; GERITEL's later account gives 4.2 MWp/2.8 MWh. No public source reconciles these as design revision, rehabilitation, replacement, extension, or separate phase, so they remain dated configurations rather than a summed plant rating. [9][10][11]

  • Evidence gap

    No independently verified operating data were found for 2015-2023 or after Q2 2024, including availability, generation by source, fuel use, battery health, current output, outages, or O&M responsibility. The effect of discontinued GE Durathon production and the identity of any replacement storage are also unknown. [9][10][11]

Provenance

11 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2020-07-05

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Macroproyecto de energía solar para Annobón

    Government of Equatorial Guinea · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Island Microgrid Economics Today — Annobon Project Overview

    Princeton Power Systems / UT Energy Week · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Eaton 2014 Annual Report

    Eaton · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Eaton Helps Power Africa's 5MW Microgrid Project

    ENF Solar (republishing Eaton project information) · Secondary research

  8. [8]
  9. [9]
    New Jersey Energy Storage Analysis

    New Jersey Board of Public Utilities · Primary source

  10. [10]
    Presupuesto General del Estado 2024

    Republic of Equatorial Guinea · Primary source

  11. [11]

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