Members of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) have pledged to avail resources for the development of a centralised energy market in 2025.
In a joint ministerial statement, member countries said their respective power utilities and regulators will avail resources to facilitate the launch of the Day Ahead Market (DAM) by early 2025.
“We recognise the substantial economic benefits to be reaped from deepening integration of the power sectors in the EAPP in paving the way for affordable universal electricity access in the region,” the statement read.
DAM is a system that allows customers to buy and sell electricity at financially binding day-ahead prices for the following day, allowing both sellers and buyers to harness the benefits of increased regional power trade.
Member countries acknowledged the need for national reforms to build a conducive environment for increased power trade.
“We will support national utilities in implementing the regional interconnectors, and to comply with the regional Interconnection Code and improve interconnected operations,” the statement added.
EAPP members the statement during the Eastern Africa Power Pool Regional Conference 2024 in Mombasa.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi said the anticipated launch of DAM in the first quarter of 2025 will revolutionise energy trade across Eastern Africa.
“Kenya fully supports ongoing efforts of development of regional power market. This initiative will ensure reliability and sustainability of the regional power market benefiting all our member states,” he said.
Wandayi noted that Kenya was among the first seven countries (Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt) that agreed to establish EAPP by signing the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding.
“Since then, we have been committed to seeing to it that the objective of EAPP is achieved by investing in the construction of interconnectors,” he stated.
“For instance, our interconnection with Ethiopia through the 500 High Voltage Direct Current transmission line is a testament to the power of collaboration.”
The EAPP currently has 13 member countries that signed the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (IGMOU) and 14 utilities that signed the Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding (IUMOU).
The pool comprises Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Libya. South Sudan and Somalia joined recently and there’s a possibility that Eritrea may join.
The EAPP’s General Secretariat is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a mandate to coordinate the development and functioning /operation of the power pool.
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