ABA Editorial · Jan 22, 2026 · 13 min read
Africa's regional power pools (WAPP in West Africa, EAPP in Eastern Africa, SAPP in Southern Africa) coordinate cross-border electricity trade among member countries. Transmission infrastructure remains the bottleneck that determines whether generation capacity can actually reach demand. This report maps the power pool architecture, the interconnection projects in development, and the integration opportunity.
African electricity systems have traditionally been organized at the national level, with each country operating its own generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure largely independently. Over the last two decades, regional power pools have begun to coordinate cross-border electricity trade among member countries, allowing surplus generation in one country to reach demand in another through agreed interconnections. The three main power pools (the West African Power Pool, the Eastern Africa Power Pool, and the Southern African Power Pool) together cover most of the continent's population and electricity systems. Transmission infrastructure and cross-border interconnection remain the bottleneck that determines whether generation capacity can actually reach demand at a regional scale, and investment in transmission has lagged behind investment in generation across most African markets. This report maps the power pool architecture, the interconnection projects in development, and the integration opportunity.
The West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) was established as a specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to coordinate electricity trade among 14 West African countries. WAPP members include Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Cape Verde, and The Gambia. The pool operates an interconnected transmission network that allows generation in one country to be exported to another through specific interconnection points and transmission lines.
Several major WAPP transmission projects have been in development through the mid-2020s. The OMVS (Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Senegal) has managed hydroelectric and transmission projects across Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, and Guinea. The Nigeria-Niger-Benin-Togo interconnection has been a target for capacity expansion. The Cote d'Ivoire-Liberia-Sierra Leone-Guinea (CLSG) interconnection, a World Bank-supported project, has added capacity for electricity flows across the Mano River Union countries. These projects, combined with Mission 300's emphasis on regional integration, have gradually strengthened the WAPP network.
The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) coordinates electricity trade among member countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The pool has been less operationally integrated than WAPP or SAPP, partly because the member countries have more diverse power system characteristics and partly because key interconnection infrastructure remains under construction.
Ethiopia has emerged as a significant exporter of electricity within the EAPP framework, with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and other hydroelectric facilities producing surplus generation that is sold to neighboring countries including Kenya, Djibouti, and Sudan. The Ethiopia-Kenya interconnection, a major transmission line completed in recent years, allows Ethiopian hydroelectric power to reach the Kenyan grid and potentially continue through to Tanzania via additional planned connections.
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is the most operationally mature of the three pools, with longer history and more integrated markets. SAPP member countries include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Malawi, Lesotho, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The pool operates both a contract market (where member utilities agree long-term supply arrangements) and a short-term market (where participants trade electricity day-ahead and intraday).
South Africa's Eskom has historically been the largest participant in SAPP, both as an occasional net exporter (when domestic generation exceeded demand) and, during the load-shedding period, as a net importer relying on regional supply to supplement domestic generation. Mozambique's Cahora Bassa hydroelectric facility has been a major source of exports within SAPP. The Inga hydroelectric complex in the DRC has been a long-discussed potential major supply source, though the massive Grand Inga project has been in planning for decades without reaching construction at the full announced scale.
The recurring constraint across all three power pools is transmission capacity. Every plan to expand regional electricity trade depends on transmission infrastructure that either exists but has inadequate capacity for expanded flows, or does not yet exist and requires multi-year construction schedules and multi-hundred-million-dollar investments. Transmission projects are harder to finance than generation projects because they typically do not generate direct revenue streams, and the benefits accrue to multiple parties (generators, consumers, system operators) in ways that make cost allocation contentious.
Development finance institutions including the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and bilateral donors have been important transmission financiers, providing concessional funding that commercial lenders would not offer. Still, transmission investment has lagged generation investment across most African markets, and every study of African power system development has identified transmission as a critical gap that must be closed for Mission 300 targets to be achievable.
Three indicators will shape African regional power integration. First, whether specific transmission projects under construction in 2024 and 2025 (particularly the East African interconnections and WAPP capacity additions) reach completion on schedule, unlocking cross-border flows that have been anticipated for years. Second, whether Mission 300 translates its rhetorical commitment to regional integration into actual financing for transmission projects at the scale required. Third, whether the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides an institutional framework that supports deeper electricity market integration alongside other categories of cross-border commerce. Regional power integration is the unsexy infrastructure layer that would multiply the value of generation investments across multiple African countries, and its progress over the next year will shape how far Mission 300 can actually reach.