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Public Electricity Supply in Portuguese Guinea, 1930-1974

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Public Electricity Supply in Portuguese Guinea, 1930-1974
Authors: Stoppok Manfred
Source: HoST, Vol 19, Iss 1, Pp 100-128 (2025)
Publisher Information: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Subject Terms: electrification, guinea-bissau, D1-2009, portuguese colonialism, History (General), history of technology, history of electricity
Description: 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.
Document Type: Article
Language: English
ISSN: 1646-7752
DOI: 10.2478/host-2025-0005
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/bd09cf2b08404c1c90b31ca404bce236
Rights: CC BY NC ND
Accession Number: edsair.doi.dedup.....943dcd936ba575b5a6a0846045b22e3c
Database: OpenAIRE
Description
Abstract: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.
ISSN:16467752
DOI:10.2478/host-2025-0005