Functional Power Trade Key to Achieving Universal Access to Sustainable Energy Services in Sub-Saharan Africa Region

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the most energy-poor regions in the world. Out of the about 1.1 billion people without access to electricity worldwide, about 621 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Fossil fuel accounts for approximately seventy percent of the power consumed in the region, particularly coal and gas. Yet, Sub-Saharan Africa has vast, diverse, and geographically distributed renewable energy resources. These resources include technical potentials of 1000 GW solar PV, 20 GW of geothermal resources, 350 GW of hydropower resources, 400 GW of gas resources, and an estimated 109 GW of wind resources. Currently, the SSA region faces the challenge of meeting the goal of achieving universal energy access while limiting greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve this goal, the SSA region needs to focus on accelerating the development of renewable energy resources, a move that will necessitate economic and environmental trade-offs. To harness renewable energy resources economically, the region requires to adopt a collaborative development approach through expanding cross-border power transmission lines and enhance regional power trade. The collaborative approach can be fast-tracked through the operationalization of the four existing regional power pools. The four power pools include the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), the Western Africa Power Pool (WAPP), the Central African Power Pool (CAPP) and the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). The power pools will allow countries to aggregate resources and extend grids across national borders, capitalizing on regional diversity in renewable energy resources and demand. Currently, approximately 7% of electricity is traded in the SSA region, mainly through the Southern Africa Power Pool. Fully functional regional power pools have the potential to save the region an estimated value of US$50 billion in capital investment required to meet the current energy access gap.