Description
The energy sector in Africa still faces huge challenges that include low generation capacity and efficiency, high costs, unstable and unreliable energy supplies and low access rates, amongst others. These challenges have adversely affected socio-economic development on the continent. With the demand for modern energy consistently on the rise, there critical need to address policy, investment, markets and technical barriers to energy sector development on the continent. The development of regional energy infrastructure and market is one of the key strategies to address these gaps and barriers.
There are many regional, continental and global initiatives in Africa aimed at addressing these barriers in the energy sector and accelerate access to modern and sustainable energy services on the continent including the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative, the Africa Clean Energy Corridor for the Eastern and Southern African Power Pools, and the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP), amongst others. The continuing and gradual successes of these regional and continental initiatives suggest that regional and cross-border infrastructure will be a major component of the future African energy system. The development of a sustainable regional infrastructure and the promotion of regional integration and intra-African trade require the development of effective, comprehensive and harmonised continental regulatory frameworks, which will enhance regional co-operation and co-ordination of stakeholders including Member States as well as Regional Institutions.
In the energy sector, a harmonised regulatory framework at the continental and regional levels will facilitate the creation of an African energy market, enhance private sector participation in the energy sector and mobilise the huge financial and technical resources required to provide modern energy access to all Africans as stipulated in the Agenda 2063 of the African Union Commission (AUC).
In the Maputo Declaration of 05 November 2010, African Energy Ministers committed to "harmonise regulations and promote good governance with a view to creating a conducive climate for increased direct investment, both national and foreign, and especially publicprivate partnerships". The African Energy Ministers recommended to the African Union Commission (AUC) to “strengthen and harmonize legal and regulatory frameworks in the African energy sector”. In 2015, the African Union Commission (AUC) established a programme on Energy Regulatory Frameworks in order to identify gaps, recommend best practices and design action plans to harmonise continental and regional regulatory frameworks in the African energy sector, focusing specifically on the electricity sector.
