The president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has stated that the energy sector is currently undergoing a transition that will facilitate the implementation of various generation and interconnection projects within the region.
This transition will enable countries in Africa to engage in the buying and selling of electricity.
Tinubu made this statement during the ongoing Fifth Meeting of the Mid-year Coordination Committee between the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, and Regional Mechanisms.
He emphasized the significance of completing the electric interconnection between Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (1,300 km), and between Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea (1,700 km). With these interconnections in place, all 15 countries in West Africa have now been interconnected.
Furthermore, the completion of the Information and Coordination Centre of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) will empower member states to engage in electricity trading within the region. This center will act as a regional system operator within the framework of the regional electricity market.
Tinubu also highlighted that ten regional projects are currently in the construction phase, while fifteen are in the preparatory phases. These projects are part of the African Union Programme for Infrastructure Development (PIDA) portfolio projects.
Additionally, several projects in the energy access subsector are currently in execution phases, aiming to increase the current energy access rate of 52%.
Furthermore, ECOWAS has developed a 25-year Masterplan (2020-2045) inspired by PIDA, comprising 201 regional projects that cover all member states. These projects are estimated to cost 131 billion USD and span key sectors such as transport, energy, telecommunications, and water resources.
The projects consist of both soft components, including facilitation services, improvement of efficiency measures, studies, project preparation, institution, and capacity building, as well as hard components involving physical investment assets.