Investment needs exceed 1.2 trillion euro for the Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP) to be successfully implemented.
This emerged at a Deep Dive session, hosted at the Energy Indaba, held in Cape Town, last week.
This is because Africa currently lacks a significant number of mature power infrastructure projects, which would enable the Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP) to succeed.
The session’s focus was on a regional infrastructure pipeline underpinning Africa’s future power market, through presentations by four African regional power pools – Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), West African Power Pool (WAPP), Eastern Africa Power Pool and Central Africa Power Pool (CAPP).
It was hosted by AUDA NEPAD and organised together with the African Union Commission (AUC), the EU-funded Continental Energy Programme in Africa (CEPA), the German-funded Accelerating the Energy Transition in Africa (ENGAGE), as well as GET.invest and the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP).
The session discussed priority energy infrastructure projects on the continent to generate interest from investors, financing institutions, developers, and other stakeholders.
It also underscored that turning the pipeline of projects into operating infrastructure will require faster project preparation, stronger regional coordination, and structures that attract private capital at scale.
More than a dozen priority projects were showcased, ranging from large hydropower developments to major cross-border transmission corridors, representing thousands of kilometres of transmission infrastructure and multi-billion-dollar investments needed to strengthen regional electricity trade.
The power pools are becoming increasingly interconnected, with corridors linking Southern, Eastern, Central andWestern Africa and creating the building blocks of a future continental electricity market.
Information provided by Africa Energy Indaba.
Picture: Supplied