Africa Energy Forum 2023: Powering Africa's Future
The Africa Energy Forum 2023 hosted in Nairobi, provided an opportunity for the EAPP Secretary General, Eng James Wahogo, to meet with various partners and discuss matters related to EAPP interconnection and power market development. The EAPP plays a central role in coordinating and facilitating electricity trading among its member countries.
Separate meetings with ZESCO, KETRACO, KENGEN, Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) and Power Africa, focused on topics such as transmission access and pricing policy, development of bilateral framework agreements, and PSS/E training for transmission expansion.
The EAPP’s journey towards an operational regional electricity market was outlined, highlighting completed phases and projected milestones. Additionally, the principles guiding the EAPP’s market design were shared, with a focus on promoting flexibility, transparency, and equal access. Ultimately, the EAPP’s objective remains steadfast in securing power supply, optimizing energy resources, and driving long-term development of a regional electricity market.
The Secretary General emphasized the EAPP’s role as a Central Counter Party (CCP), responsible for ensuring regional balance in electricity trading. Meanwhile, individual member states retain responsibility for national balancing and dispatch, promoting regional cooperation while maintaining national control over their energy systems.
Regarding the progress of the interconnection and the journey towards an operational regional electricity market, several milestones were highlighted: Operation Readiness Phase 1 (OR1) completion in 2021 and market design completion in 2022. Still in progress is the development of market rules and Day Ahead Market (DAM) trading platform projected to be completed by mid-2024.
The principles guiding the EAPP’s market design include:
- Flexible interconnections to accommodate new interconnections as needed.
- Support for new renewable energy sources to promote sustainable energy development.
- Ease of implementation to facilitate the integration of new participants.
- Transparency, equal access, and neutrality to ensure non-discriminatory access to the regional market and build trust among utilities.
- Flexible design that encourages widespread participation in the market.
- Coexistence of legacy contracts alongside new agreements.
- Recognition of differing paces of national market reforms while facilitating access to regional markets.
The EAPP’s overarching objectives encompass securing power supply, optimizing energy resource utilization, developing investment schemes in power generation, transmission, and distribution, increasing power supply and access, reducing power production costs through interconnectors, and promoting the long-term development of the electricity market in the region.
