PHOTO
The African Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP) will be completed and submitted for approval and adoption at the African Union (AU) Summit to be held in February 2024, a senior official at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) said during the IRENA 13th Assembly on Friday.
Speaking about the progress achieved so far, Towela Nyirenda Jere, Head - Economic Integration Division, AUDA-NEPAD said: “We concluded the baseline study in 2020 and have done the resource assessments and developed a database. Today we are almost about to complete the demand forecasts and are working on the masterplan itself which is expected to be concluded and submitted at the African Union Summit for approval and adoption in February 2024.”
The continental masterplan will provide a holistic roadmap to connect African countries to each other within a single regional power pool and to connect the power pools into a single electricity market, promoting energy access and regional integration.
Existing plans in South and East Africa include more than 100 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power plants by 2040 that would triple CO2 emissions to 1,200 mega tonnes a year. Under the African Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP), power generation options will be reviewed and reconsidered to maximise socio-economic benefits while minimising emissions.
The agency is currently working on planning scenarios for battery storage, geothermal, green hydrogen, solar, pumped hydro and wind energy and expects to complete network studies and cost benefit analysis during 2023, he said.
The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) is leading the development of the master plan with the help of IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).
(Writing by Sowmya Sundar; Editing by Anoop Menon)
