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Regional bloc seeks to standardise electricity trading units
UETCL says uniform units are expected to be fully operational and launched by 2025. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- EAPP has a membership of 13 countries including Uganda, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Libya, Egypt, Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, and Rwanda
The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), a regional utility bloc for countries to leverage on electricity grids, has revealed plans to establish a market committee and uniform trading unit to facilitate electricity transactions among member countries.
EAPP, with membership of 13 countries including Uganda, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Libya, Egypt, Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, and Rwanda, was established 15 years ago to take advantage of excess capacity and facilitate electricity trade among member countries.
Speaking during the 31st EAPP steering committee meeting in Kampala, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company chief executive officer Joshua Karamagi, said uniform units are expected to be fully operational and launched by 2025, noting that successful power pooling requires deployment of high voltage cross-border interconnection lines and necessitates adoption and compliance with common technical, operational, and commercial codes of practice by member utilities.
Several regional interconnection projects are ongoing with some nearing completion, while others are in the commissioning phase, and some already operational. Notably, the 500kV HVDC line between Ethiopia and Kenya and the 220kV HVAC line between Uganda and Rwanda are now functional.
“With these developments, the region will soon achieve its first level of interconnectivity among nine countries. This progress necessitates that member utilities comply with common technical standards to operate within this expanded regional power grid effectively,” Mr Karamagi said, citing the recent EAPP Power Balance Statement, which is poised to help the region obtain an interconnected system of over 40,000 MW of additional capacity over the next decade, supported by increased power generation from hydro, geothermal, wind, and gas-fired power plants development in member states.
Eng James Wahogo, the EAPP secretary general said the committee and trading unit will create an auction system where countries with surplus electricity can make offers in terms of electricity they can sell.
Currently, the EAPP Trading Unit operates at the secretariat level, but there is an ongoing debate, particularly from Ethiopia, regarding the necessity of establishing a Market Committee, despite consensus from other member states on the importance of its operationalisation.
“We all need to build on the momentum while addressing recurring barriers to the broader effort to deepen power system integration in our region. A case in point regarding such barriers is the recent challenges we faced in our effort to facilitate the development of the Regional Master Plan, and the smooth launch of the EAPP Day Ahead Electricity Market as planned and approved a few years ago,” Wahogo added, noting that if not dealt with on time and decisively such recurring barriers have the potential to fully undermine the spirit of cooperation in the power sector of our region.
