AUDA NEPAD: Driving Progress on Africa’s Integrated Electricity Market
On the sidelines of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings, in May, in Kenya, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) hosted a partner’s breakfast session titled “The Africa Continental Power Systems Masterplan: A Blueprint for the Africa Single Electricity Market.” This event marked a milestone in Africa’s journey towards a unified, sustainable electricity market, essential for the continent’s socio-economic transformation.
The breakfast session aimed to mobilise resources and galvanise support for the Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP) and the Africa Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) for the 2024-2030 period. Discussions focused on presenting detailed results and the concept note for CMP Phase III, strategising resource mobilisation, and discussing project pipelines and implementation strategies.
The CMP and AfSEM were adopted as flagship projects of Agenda 2063 during the Fourth Ordinary Session of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee and were subsequently endorsed by the African Union Heads of State Summit. These initiatives aim to promote integration and socio-economic growth by ensuring universal access to clean, affordable, and uninterrupted electricity across Africa.
The CMP’s goal is to interconnect national power grids into synchronised regional power pools, eventually forming a single continental electricity market. This initiative is expected to significantly increase renewable energy capacity and reduce carbon emissions, aligning with global sustainable development goals.
H.E. Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, highlighted the strategic importance of CMP and AfSEM in achieving the African Union’s vision of “The Africa We Want” by 2063. She emphasised the ambitious targets set by the CMP: “Quadrupling power generation capacity from 263 GW to 1,200 GW by 2040, with 63% derived from renewable sources. Developing extensive transmission infrastructure to support regional and continental electricity markets. Achieving universal electricity access by 2035 using a mix of on-grid and off-grid solutions.”
H.E. Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas also called upon partners to join forces in mobilising resources for CMP Phase III, stressing the importance of cooperation in transforming Africa’s electricity landscape and ensuring uninterrupted, affordable power supply. The breakfast session concluded with a commitment from AUDA-NEPAD to engage with stakeholders and partners to further discussions and finalise areas of collaboration. The event highlighted the crucial role of CMP and AfSEM in shaping Africa’s energy future and set the stage for accelerated implementation of these transformative projects.
For more details contact:
Simbini Tichakunda <SimbiniT@nepad.org>
About AUDA-NEPAD
African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) is the development agency of the African Union mandated by Assembly of Heads of State and Government to coordinate and execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063. The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to: a) Coordinate and Execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063; and b) Strengthen capacity of African Union Member States and regional bodies, advance knowledge-based advisory support, undertake the full range of resource mobilisation and serve as the continent’s technical interface with all Africa’s development stakeholders and development partners.
Find more information on the topic:
https://www.nepad.org/continental-master-plan
https://www.nepad.org/publication/african-continental-power-systems-masterplan-cmp-support-studies
