Maravi

Zesco urges regional energy operating system

Zesco urges regional energy operating system
By Joan Chirwa-Ngoma
Fri 15 July 2011, 12:40 CAT

SOUTHERN African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region or they will experience power shortages leading to economic deficits, says a senior industry official.

Zesco Limited’s chief environmental officer Mellon Chinjila said during a meeting for environmental experts from the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), an ambitious regional initiative encouraging electricity sharing and the sale of surplus power to neighbours in need.

“Our governments have been trying to harmonise the SAPP system, but complex inter-governmental negotiations are drawing out the process,” Chinjila said, as quoted by ESI Africa News, an online power journal for Africa.

He further said some progress had been made to improve the operations of the SAPP initiative.

“The SAPP is in the process of constructing a new power line that will connect South Africa with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Namibia and Zambia. This should de-congest the existing line that is running at full capacity further east from the DRC through Zambia and Zimbabwe to South Africa,” said Chinjila.

SAPP aims to expand regional trade in electricity, thereby reducing energy costs and providing greater stability. But lack of co-operation between member countries has hampered the smooth operation of the project.

And Catherine Fedorsky of the Energy Research Centre of the University of Cape Town agreed that a regional power pool was important.

“A pool arrangement will determine the day-to-day and hour-to-hour plan of what is happening, and that way there can be better use of electricity,” explained Fedorsky.

Labels: ZESCO

posted by MrK @ 5:34 PM