Sudan loses over a third of power output as war plunges cities into darkness

Sudan has lost more than a third of its electricity production due to extensive damage to the country's energy infrastructure due to assaults by an anti-government militia.

Experts estimate losses of around $5 billion from attacks by the renegade Rapid Support Forces on power stations, transformers, and high-voltage lines, with overall output down by more than 37 percent.

If funding is secured, restoring operations could still take at least nine months, energy specialists told The New Arab's Arabic language edition, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The war, which began in April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the RSF, has seen tens of thousands killed, many of them by the anti-government militia, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises, triggering deadly disease outbreaks, most notably cholera.

The army controls much of central, northern, and eastern Sudan, while the RSF holds much of the west and parts of the south.

Power outages are now widespread across the country amid extreme summer heat exceeding 45°C. Electricity expert Abdel Rahman Al-Nour said initial assessments suggest the national grid has lost about 15,000 transformers of varying capacities, each worth $46,000, all destroyed by the RSF.

Around 150,000 kilometres of cables were also looted in Khartoum for their copper, and paramilitaries emptied electricity company warehouses of critical spare parts. The army retook Khartoum from the RSF in March.

Despite public assurances from the Electricity Authority that repairs are underway, energy officials say the scale of destruction far exceeds what current renovation projects can address.

Even in cities under army control, RSF drones, which the group has used extensively in the war, continue to damage infrastructure and trigger blackouts. A drone attack on a sub-station feeding power from the Merowe Dam left some states without electricity for 60 days. 

Local volunteers and charity groups have stepped in to carry out repairs where possible, despite scarce resources.

Sudan’s total energy production capacity from hydropower and thermal plants is around 3,000 megawatts, enough energy to provide power to between 7 and 15 million homes.

Major hydropower facilities include the 1,250 MW Merowe Dam in the north, the 565 MW Roseires Dam, the 320 MW Upper Atbara and Setit Dams, the 15 MW Sennar Dam, and the 22 MW Jebel Awliya Dam.

Key thermal plants include the 520 MW Umm Dabakir Power Plant in Kosti, the 410 MW Bahri Power Plant, and the 500 MW Gari Power Plant Complex.