Promoting Regional Power Trade : The Southern African Power Pool

The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), the first formal international pool to be set outside North American and Western Europe, was inaugurated in 1995. While the utilities of southern Africa have been importing and exporting electricity for four decades, these trades occurred through bilateral contracts that were complex and often difficult to administer. The objective of shifting to the pool is to create a more efficient regional market. Although physically the pool is still embryonic and trade volumes average roughly 3 percent of production, confidence in the market and mutual trust between the members are being strengthened and sector coordination is dramatically improved. This Note reviews the factors that have eased the way for the pool agreements and the challenges that remain in getting the multilateral trading operation under way.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: O'Leary, Donal T., Charpentier, Jean-Pierre, Minogue, Diane
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 1998-06
Subjects:REGIONAL PARTICIPATION, TRADE PARTNERS, POOLING SYSTEMS, POWER GENERATION, UTILITIES, ELECTRICITY, MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AUTONOMY, BILATERAL CONTRACTS, COAL, DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES, EFFICIENT REGIONAL MARKET, ELECTRICAL POWER BETWEEN COUNTRIES, ELECTRICITY DEMAND, ELECTRICITY SUPPLY, ENERGY MARKETS, ENERGY MINISTERS, ENERGY TRADE, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, NEW ENTRANTS, POWER, POWER LINES, POWER PLANTS, POWER POOL, POWER SYSTEM, POWER UTILITIES, PRODUCERS, REGIONAL POWER TRADE, REGULATORY SYSTEMS, SAVINGS, SUBSIDIARY, TRANSMISSION, TRANSMISSION COSTS, TRANSMISSION PRICING,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/1998/06/441756/promoting-regional-power-trade-southern-african-power-pool
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11543
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), the first formal international pool to be set outside North American and Western Europe, was inaugurated in 1995. While the utilities of southern Africa have been importing and exporting electricity for four decades, these trades occurred through bilateral contracts that were complex and often difficult to administer. The objective of shifting to the pool is to create a more efficient regional market. Although physically the pool is still embryonic and trade volumes average roughly 3 percent of production, confidence in the market and mutual trust between the members are being strengthened and sector coordination is dramatically improved. This Note reviews the factors that have eased the way for the pool agreements and the challenges that remain in getting the multilateral trading operation under way.