ADDIS ABABA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM), a continental energy trading program that aims to interconnect all 55 African Union (AU) members through an efficient and affordable electricity market, is well in progress, AU officials have said.
The remarks were made at the High-Level Technical Meeting on AfSEM and the African Continental Power System Master Plan on Monday at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Speaking at the event, Kamugisha Kazaura, director of infrastructure and energy at the AU Commission, said the institutional and operational foundation has been laid for a unified African electricity market, which delivers clean, reliable and affordable power to every corner of the continent.
"Activities are progressing well to define a common path forward to address critical technical and regulatory gaps and explore continental strategies for renewable energy deployment, trading, and manufacturing," Kazaura said.
Noting that more than 600 million Africans are still without access to electricity, Kazaura called for urgent and sustainable action to meet Africa's rapidly growing energy demand through the full implementation of the AfSEM.
Simbini Tichakunda, principal program officer at the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development, said Africa is standing on the brink of an energy revolution that promises to transform the continent's economic future.
"The dream of AfSEM is coming to life. The 400 KV seamless power integration between Kenya and Tanzania, linking the grids of Kenya and Tanzania and synchronizing them with those of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a major step forward," Tichakunda noted.
He said the Eastern African Power Pool will be connected to the Southern African Power Pool by 2027.
The two-day meeting is expected to discuss how to de-risk investment in power infrastructure and strengthen institutional readiness at the national and regional levels.
