Improving energy efficiency and interconnectivity in Africa through regional economic integration
Adedeji Adeniran
Chukwuka Onyekwena
Sone Osakwe
CSEA AFRICA - CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF THE ECONOMIES OF AFRICA
March 2021
Affordable and efficient energy supply is essential for enhanced welfare and better development outcomes. However, African states suffer from huge deficits in energy generation and distribution, resulting in unreliable power networks, frequent power outages and expensive tariffs. In a bid to improve efficiencies through interconnectivity and reduce energy development challenges at the national level, sub-regional power pooling initiatives have become increasingly popular in Africa. The idea behind creating power pools is to encourage cooperation among countries, through linking excess capacity in one country where power is produced more economically, with excess dem...