by Richard Nyamanhindi – SANF 08 No 78
Regional stakeholders in the energy industry meeting in Tanzania have called for cooperation, integration and pooling of resources in the energy sector as the only way of dealing with energy shortages in southern Africa.
The participants for the fifth Regional Electricity Regulators Association (RERA) of Southern Africa annual conference singled out collaboration among the member states as the most important way of dealing with the current energy shortages.
Participants included regulatory agencies, power utilities, government ministries, and international cooperating partners.
Regional energy shortages are set to increase due to the opportunities and challenge presented by the proposed alignment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The conference, held from 12-14 November, was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Tanzania, Mizenga Pinda, who noted the immense electricity demand and supply imbalances in southern Africa.
Pinda advised the RERA and its members to continue working together in the spirit of mutual cooperation that has strengthened since its establishment.
“We are all aware of the absolute necessity of pooling our electricity infrastructure as a region in order to reduce costs, increase security and enhance global competitiveness as a region,” Pinda said.
The Prime Minister urged RERA to advise member states on how best to regulate the use of the region’s water resources for hydropower generation on the grounds that their use had already started generating not only relatively cheap power but also tensions because of adverse environmental effects across national borders.
He called upon the authority to undertake regulatory studies that are responsive to the challenges in the region and disseminate the results to the stakeholders, as well as document best practices in the energy sector and promote intra-border electricity trading.
The chairperson of RERA, Silvester Hibajene, told the conference that RERA now has nine members after Mozambique was admitted at this years’ conference. The other eight members are Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Hibajene informed the conference that Madagascar was expected to join the authority in 2009, bringing the members to 10.
He said RERA had broader plans to improve the regional investment climate in the energy sector, developing an enabling regulatory environment for access to and operation of a viable regional electricity market and enhancing the capacity, image, credibility and performance of RERA.
The conference provided a unique opportunity for stakeholders in the region to network and exchange information on regional power demand and supply; creation of a conducive environment for investment in the SADC electricity supply industry; electricity tariff principles and implementation challenges, among others.
The conference noted that the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) regional power system has an installed capacity of 55,000MW of which 45,265MW was available as at August 2008.
Over 9,000MW was unavailable due to various reasons that range from the difficulty of regional interconnectors and ageing equipment.
According to projections by SAPP, power deficits in the region will persist until 2012, during which time projects aimed at providing additional power to the region amounting to 6,550MW shall be implemented and commissioned at an estimated cost of US$5 billion.
Power utilities noted that renewable energy can also make a substantial contribution to the regional electricity grid but cautioned that this requires a paradigm shift and political commitment by member states.
The participating utilities welcomed the establishment of the Cross Border Financing Model for Regional Power Projects by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) which is set to promote the development of energy infrastructure.
In closing the conference, Tanzania’s Minister for Water and Irrigation, Mark Mwandosya, challenged RERA to start working on opportunities in the power sector development that will be created by the proposed Grand Free Trade Area of SADC, EAC and COMESA.
RERA is a formal association of independent electricity regulators whose establishment was approved by SADC Ministers responsible for Energy in Maseru, Lesotho, on 12 July 2002.
The Association was officially launched in Windhoek, Namibia on 26 September 2002 and it provides a platform for cooperation between independent electricity regulators within the SADC region.
Next year, the 6th RERA Conference will be held in Malawi.
