Establishment
Establishment of EAPP
Founding of the EAPP
Eastern Africa is an extended region around 5000 Km from North to South and 2500 Km from East to West involving several Eastern Africa countries. The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) as an institution was conceived in May 2003 with the initialing of the Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in November 2003 and the drafting of the Governmental Memorandum of Understanding in May 2004 to be signed by the countries in the region. Recognizing the potential benefit from developing a regional power pool, the Energy Ministers from seven (7) Eastern Africa countries, namely: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Sudan ratified the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (IGMOU) for the establishment of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) on February 24, 2005. The overall objective is to facilitate regional integration and hence to realize sustainable growth and development.
Since the 2005 MOU agreement, EAPP was thereafter adopted by the 2006 Summit of COMESA as a specialized Agency or Institution of Electrical Power in the region.
Founding member countries
Current member countries (June 2021)
Additional members joins EAPP
Since the 2005 MOU agreement, EAPP was thereafter adopted by the 2006 Summit of COMESA as a specialized Agency or Institution of Electrical Power in the region.
Since the initial signing of the IGMOU, additional countries have joined. Currently, EAPP has eleven (11) member countries and fourteen utilities that signed the Inter Utility Memorandum of Understanding (IUMOU) and one regional electricity provider (SINELAC). The current member countries are Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Libya. As of June 2021, there is a possibility that other countries such as Eritrea, South Sudan, and Somalia may soon join EAPP.
EAPP’s General Secretariat is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a mandate to coordinate the development and functioning / operation of the power pool.
The EAPP Vision
The EAPP’s vision is “To optimize the usage of clean energy resources available in the region to benefit the region’s society with reduced cost of electricity production and increased rate of access to electrify Eastern Africa”
The EAPP Mission
The EAPP’s mission is “Integration of regional investment in power generation & transmission; integration of national power system operations into the unified regional electricity market and trade energies among member countries to secure power and optimize the usage of energy resources in the region to benefit the society with reduced cost of electricity production and increased access rate to electrify Eastern Africa.”
The EAPP Objectives
The EAPP’s objectives are;
- To secure power supply for the region’s countries
- Optimize the usage of energy resources available in the region by working out regional investment scheme in power generation, transmission, and distribution taking into account the environmental effects;
- To increase power supply in the region in order to increase the access rate of the population to electricity in Eastern Africa,
- To reduce the electricity production cost in the region by using power system interconnection and increase power exchange between countries;
- To provide efficient coordination between various initiatives taken in the field of power production, transmission as well as exchange in the region
- To create in the framework of the new Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), a conducive environment for investment in order to facilitate the integration of projects financing in the fields of power generation and transmission in the region
- Facilitate in the long-term development of the Electricity Market in the region
