SOUTHERN AFRICA: Strengthen Cooperation to Secure Power
Southern African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region, environmental experts advise. If they don’t, the region could experience power shortages and resulting economic deficits.
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which was formed in 1995 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between the twelve mainland SADC countries, is an ambitious regional initiative that encourages electricity sharing and the selling of surplus to their neighbours who experience power deficiencies.
It is aimed at expanding regional trade in electricity, reducing energy costs and providing greater supply stability for the region’s national utilities.
But lack of collaboration between the countries has hampered the smooth operation of the project.
'We operate our systems differently, and if there is a problem, let’s say in Zimbabwe, it will affect most of the system [because Zimbabwe is located in the geographical centre of the grid],' explains Mellon Chinjila, chief environmental officer at Zambian power utility Zesco Ltd.
Currently, each of the countries manages its electricity grid independently, and only informs other nations of shortfalls and surpluses. But there is no central control system that would improve the management and distribution of available energy.
If there was a fault with Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, the regional energy powerhouse, it would affect power supply in several countries in the region, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique who regularly purchase power from South Africa, Chinjila further explains.
He says governments have been trying to harmonise the system, but complex inter-governmental negotiations are drawing out the process.
Some progress has been made, however. Chinjila revealed that the SAPP is in the process of constructing a new power line that will connect South Africa with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Namibia and Zambia. This, SAPP hopes, will de-congest the existing line further east that runs from the DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe to South Africa.
'The eastern line is [running] over capacity, and there is need to construct a new one to avoid congestion and problems in the future,' he explains, adding that, a strongeraa SAPP has great potential for the region.
Catherine Fedorsky, researcher at the Energy Research Centre at the University of Cape Town, agrees with Chinjila that the regional power pool is an important initiative, especially since a lot of energy in the region is generated by a limited resource — water — and it is therefore important that countries find a fair way of sharing it.
'A pool plan will determine the day-to-day and the hour-to-hour plan of what is happening, and that way, there can be better utilisation of electricity,' she explains.
A key element of the power pool, Fedorsky adds, is information and benefit sharing by all countries involved. Collaboration makes electricity cheaper, because countries can fall back on each other’s existing power supplies instead of having to generate additional electricity from other resources than water, such as coal or diesel.
Namibia, for example, is generating more power than it needs, so it can benefit from selling the surplus, while countries with electricity shortfalls will benefit from easy access to electricity generated by their neighbours.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service