Experts gather to consider electricity for all West Africans

Energy experts and heads of utilities in the West African sub-region have gathered in Accra for the 12th General Assembly of WAPP.

The West African Power Pool (WAPP) 2017 General Assembly is being held in Ghana on the theme: ‘Regional Electricity Market: Ensuring West Africa Integration’.

Addressing delegates at the opening of the Assembly on Friday, Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko challenged delegates “to think more about challenges to the fulfillment of our common objectives of regional electricity trade and how we can make electricity available to the citizens of West Africa for the socio-economic development of the Ecowas region”.

It is expected that all 14 mainland countries in the sub-region – which make up the membership of WAPP – will be interconnected by 2019.

“The implementation of the vision started 12 years ago and so far, some progress has been made,” Mr Agyarko stressed.

“The power systems of nine out of the 14 mainland countries of Ecowas are integrated. “It is expected that by 2019, all the 14 mainland countries would have been interconnected to enable trading commence in the regional electricity market.”

Among delegates at the conference are representatives of all the electricity companies in West Africa, sub-regional institutions as well as technical and financial partners. The previous Assembly was held in 2016 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where Accra was voted as the next host city.