Somaliland: Beder wind farm launched in Sheikh, 2014 report

On 1 September 2014, Somaliland Sun reported that a wind power station was officially launched in Sheikh town, Sahil region, Somaliland. The report by Latifa Yusuf Masai named Eng Abdi Hussein Duale, Somaliland's minister of energy and minerals, as having launched the station, and said he was accompanied by various dignitaries including Councillor Hussein Abdilahi, the visiting mayor of the city of Djibouti.

According to Somaliland Sun, the wind farm is worth $800,000 and is owned by Beder Company, described as a local power generating company. The report also named Councillor Mohamed Abdullah Obsiye as the mayor of Sheikh, who thanked the energy minister for attending and Beder for its implementation.

Somaliland Sun quoted Beder Electricity Company managing director Khaddar Jibril Aden saying the company, established in 1991, had succeeded in providing Sheikh town and environs with 24-hour electricity supply. He also said the company promised to shift its electricity source from fuel generators to renewable ones and to enhance supply of cheap electricity to the entire country.

The then energy minister, Eng Abdi Hussein Duale, said the government would assist private investors already operating or entering the energy sector. He also said at the launch that he had completed his high school studies at Sheikh Secondary School. Somaliland Sun reported that cheap energy supply for sustainable economic development was a major priority of the President Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo administration, and that the Sheikh wind project joined eight others across the country.

What the 2014 report does not establish is the station's installed capacity, in megawatts, or any electricity output data to support the 24-hour, seven-day supply claim. It does not name a funder, contractor, developer, equipment supplier or consultant. It does not distinguish whether the $800,000 figure is a project value, contract value or total cost, and it does not state the currency beyond the dollar sign. The report gives no names, locations, capacities or dates for the eight other wind projects it mentions.

Somaliland Sun's report is a launch announcement. It does not follow up with commissioning records, grid connection details, capacity factors or performance data after 2014, so it cannot establish whether the wind power station has operated, generated electricity, or been expanded since the launch. The names, locations and dates of the other projects are also absent.