Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The second meeting of the Technical Steering Committee of the Project on Enhancement of a Sustainable Regional Energy Market in the Eastern Africa-Southern Africa-Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO) Region commenced in Swakopmund yesterday and will conclude today.
The project seeks to address market governance and regulatory related challenges affecting the implementation of energy development projects in the Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region. It is supported by a seven-million-euros fund provided under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) for a period of four years since the signing of the grant delegation agreement with COMESA in May 2017.
The Technical Steering Committee meeting will review the status of implementation of the first one year of the project, provide guidance to ensure attainment of the project’s objectives and induct new members of the project management team.
The meeting brings together five regional economic communities: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC,) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
Others are the Regional Association of Energy Regulators, Regional Power Pools, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency centres and the representatives of the European Union delegations to the three sub-regions.
The COMESA Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa (RAERESA) coordinates the implementation of the programme.
The programme has three results areas: the first, a regionally harmonised energy regulatory framework adopted by regional and national regulatory institutions, with particular emphasis on cross-border issues to encourage investments in the region; the second is the enhancement of regulatory capacity of the national regulatory authorities and strengthening the capacity of the regional associations (RAERESA, EREA and RERA) and power pools (EAPP and SAPP) to proactively influence developments in the energy sector.
Thirdly, the enhancement of the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency strategy, policies and regulatory guidelines to attract investments in clean energy and build capacity in clean energy in the region as well as domestication on a demand-driven basis.