SANF 20 no 31 by Innocent Gore
Regional cooperation in the Southern African energy sector is paying off amid revelations that the region is making progress in narrowing its power generation deficit.
Power utilities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) commissioned a total of 3,595 megawatts (MW) of electricity in 2019, a development that has ensured stability in the availability of electricity throughout the region.
SADC Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax said the commissioned electricity is approximately 90 percent of the targeted capacity of 4,000 MW during 2019.
“This is commendable, considering that electricity is one of the key drivers for industrialisation, productivity growth and economic development,” Dr Tax said during a virtual SADC Council of Ministers meeting held on 13 August.
According to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which is responsible for coordinating the planning, generation, transmission and marketing of electricity on behalf of member state utilities in SADC, South Africa accounted for more than 82 percent of the electricity generated during the past year.
Most of the new South African generation capacity came from the Medupi and Kusile thermal power stations that added 1,480 MW and 1,440 MW, respectively.
Angola contributed 394 MW additional generation capacity following the commissioning of the Lauca, Saurimo, Bie and Luena power plants.
Other countries that commissioned additional generation projects were the Democratic Republic of Congo (153 MW), Malawi (44 MW), Mozambique (40 MW) and Zimbabwe (4 MW).
An interesting feature of the new generation capacity commissioned during the past year was the increased participation of Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
IPPs contributed most of the new capacity in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to SAPP.
Thermal power projects continued to dominate the generation mix for new capacity that was commissioned in 2019, accounting for 83 percent of additional electricity generated during the year.
This is mainly because the bulk of the new capacity came from South Africa’s Kusile and Medupi thermal power plants.
SADC is targeting to commission 16,515 megawatts of new electricity generation capacity over the next three years as the region moves to strengthen its energy infrastructure as an enabler for its industrialisation agenda.
Of that amount, nearly 5,900 MW is expected to come from South Africa, while the United Republic of Tanzania plans to commission about 4,900 MW.
Other significant contributions to the regional power pool are expected from Angola (2,499 MW) and Zambia (1,186 MW).
However, of the 16,515 MW additional generation capacity planned for commissioning, only 9,731 MW, or about 59 percent, will be available to the regional grid since SADC is not yet fully integrated in terms of energy trading.
All mainland SADC Member States, with the exception of Angola, Malawi and Tanzania, are interconnected through SAPP regional grid, allowing them to share surplus energy.
New generation capacity installed in any of the three non-participating countries is not accessible to the nine other members of SAPP – Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In terms of interconnector projects, there has been notable progress on preparation and implementation of priority interconnector projects that aim to connect Angola, Malawi and Tanzania to the SAPP grid.
The Mozambique-Malawi interconnector attained financial closure and is at construction stage and is expected to be commissioned in 2022.
The Zambia-Tanzania interconnector is divided into several components and it is at construction phase from the Zambian side and Tanzania side where the two transmission lines are designed to converge near Nakonde Border by 2022.
The Angola-Namibia Interconnector is at feasibility studies stage and is also expected to be commissioned by 2022 following expression of commitment by the two Member States by signing the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding.
On the north-western side of the region, Angola and the DRC are also considering to develop an interconnector project which is still at pre-feasibility stage.
To unlock and leverage the development of the interconnector projects, SAPP is undertaking, with support from the World Bank, a study on establishment of a Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility. sardc.net
