South Africa holds the presidency of the G20 this year. The group is made up of 19 of the world’s largest economies, the European Union and the African Union. A priority of South Africa’s G20 presidency is African connectivity: promoting cross-border energy trade and regional power pools as a way to share electricity across borders on the continent. David Phaho and Steven Mathetsa of the African Energy Leadership Centre set out how South Africa could use its presidency of the G20 to drive regional renewable energy sharing.
What is a regional power pool?
A regional energy power pool is where countries in a region share electricity via interconnected grids. Electricity can be generated in one country but transmitted to other countries.
On the African continent, there are currently five regional power pools in different stages of development and operation. The Southern African Power Pool is an energy collaboration between countries in the Southern African Development Community. It was set up in 1995, and is regarded as the most developed power pool in Africa. The strategic intent behind the Southern African Power Pool was to create a common power grid and market for electricity in the Southern African Development Community. It is fully operational with countries sharing electricity. Twelve of the 16 Southern African Development Community countries are connected.
Also currently operating in Africa is the Eastern African Power Pool, formed by 11 countries. The West African Power Pool connects the public and private power companies of 14 countries. The other two power pools are the Central Africa Power Pool (Pool Energetique De L’Afrique Centrale) and the North African Power Pool (also known as Comité Maghrébin de l’Electricité).
Another example of African connectivity is the African Union’s African Single Electricity Market. Set up in 2021, it aims to help develop a continental electricity market so that electricity trading results in better supplies for everyone on the continent.
What’s good about regional power pools?
Regional power pools balance the supply and demand of electricity in the member countries. They can direct excess electricity from one country to another that has a shortage. This should mean that the whole region has more reliable electricity.
Regional power pools can also take steps to limit transmission and distribution losses. This happens when electricity is lost along the wires, sometimes because of heat, weather, electrical resistance or cable theft. They can pool resources to insulate electricity lines to prevent loss. They can also agree to use the same technologies, such as smart grids which constantly monitor electricity losses.
How does renewable energy feature?
Africa has abundant renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro and geothermal. It needs to start making headway as a continent towards abating the greenhouse gas emissions, which are driving climate change. These emissions are mainly caused by energy industries and those that burn fossil fuels like coal and diesel for electricity generation.
Feeding renewable energy into the pools would also help stabilise the regional electricity supply. Not every country will have the same amount of wind, solar or hydro power. For example, a country with sufficient water resources can generate electricity from a hydropower plant and supplement the electricity supplies of other countries in the power pool.
How can the G20 help regions in Africa to share electricity?
Regional power pools have already led to a consistent supply of electricity between G20 member states. For example, the Nordic Pool (Nordel) connects the national power grids of Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
The Central American Electrical Interconnection System has created a regional electricity market among Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama.
African countries lack infrastructure across the entire energy value chain of generation, transmission and distribution. There are 600 million people in Africa who don’t have electricity.
These five regional power pools are adequate. But they need to improve their operations. For example, they need finance to develop electricity infrastructure. All the electricity grids will need new smart meters, sensors, and artificial intelligence algorithms. These will ensure that electricity is sent where it’s needed (grid optimisation).
Geopolitical or conflict situations, weak institutional capacity, and lack of skilled electricity professionals and researchers make the challenges in the sector worse.
The G20 can facilitate targeted investments in renewable energy systems by institutions such as the World Bank. They can also arrange organisational development so that new systems are properly managed.
What is the South African G20 presidency doing about this?
South Africa’s G20 presidency has prioritised three areas in the transition towards clean energy. It aims to draw up an action plan for regional connectivity in Africa. Within ten years, at least three cross-border energy projects should have been developed.
The South African G20 presidency has also said that 50% of African Union member states should have made progress in setting up a unified energy market by the end of this year. It also aims to work with countries to set up two renewable energy corridors in Africa by 2030. These will provide 15% of the electricity needs in their regions.
The South African G20 presidency is also developing a plan to finance microgrids for communities that don’t have electricity. These could also provide electricity to rural communities on different sides of a border.
South Africa is building on previous initiatives and using the experiences of past G20 presidencies such as India, Brazil and Indonesia. As developing countries, they faced similar energy challenges. We believe that if the South African G20 presidency continues to work with well-regarded partners in the energy sector, such as the International Energy Agency, this will yield positive outcomes.
- is an Adjunct Professor, Discipline Lead: Energy and Director of the African Energy Leadership Centre., University of the Witwatersrand
- is a Senior Lecturer at the African Energy Leadership Centre, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand
- This article first appeared in The Conversation
