East Africa: Comesa Reveals Thermal Power Dominance in the Region

23 May 2024
Business Day Africa (Nairobi)
By Bda Writer

Thermal power dominates the energy landscape in the Comesa region, commanding a share of over 76 percent, with hydro energy trailing at 24 percent, out of a total installed capacity of 100,000 megawatts.

These figures emerged from the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa (RAERESA), held in Cairo, Egypt, on May 15-16, 2024.

Over the past eight years, the proportion of renewable energy has seen a notable rise, climbing from a mere one percent to six percent. This uptick can be attributed largely to policy and regulatory reforms enacted within member states.

However, despite these advancements, critical deficiencies persist within the regional energy infrastructure.

Dr Mohamed Kadah, Comesa's Assistant Secretary General overseeing programmes, highlighted issues stemming from insufficient investment, unreliability, and inefficiency during his address at the meeting.

To address these challenges, Dr Kadah called upon energy sector stakeholders--including governments, multilateral and bilateral development and financial institutions, private sector entities, and academia--to pool resources and collaborate in bridging the energy infrastructure deficit in the COMESA region.

Mohamed Musa Omran, Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (EgyptERA), underscored the important role of effective regulation in fostering an environment conducive to private sector growth.

John Mutua, Alternate Chairperson of RAERESA and Director of Technical Regulation at Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), stressed the importance of a harmonised regulatory framework to spur investments in various energy sectors, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and bioenergy, which hold vast potential within Comesa.

Currently, Comesa is actively implementing the Regional Harmonisation of Regulatory Frameworks and Tools for Improved Electricity Regulation project, supported by a $1.5 million grant from the African Development Bank.

Delegates from a wide array of Comesa member states participated in the AGM, including representatives from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Tunisia, and Libya.

The primary focus of the meeting was to receive progress reports from RAERESA Portfolio Committees, covering areas such as harmonisation of legal and regulatory frameworks, renewable energy, environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, capacity building, information exchange, energy statistics, and database management.

Read the original article on Business Day Africa.

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