KEMA trains African countries on generation and transmission planning

Nine Nile Basin Countries further orientate on regulatory affairs

Arnhem, March 25 – KEMA has carried out a comprehensive one-week training program on generation and transmission planning for 9 African countries in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The workshop was attended by 31 senior officials from regulatory agencies, ministries and utilities from the Nile Basin Initiative countries – Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Framework
With the exception of Egypt, electricity systems in the Nile Basin countries are rather limited. At the same time, large parts of the population are still lacking access to electricity. The Nile Basin Regional Power Trade Project (RPTP) aims to improve access to reliable and low cost power in the Nile Basin in an environmentally sustainable manner.

An important element in achieving this goal is to establish an effective institutional and regulatory framework to promote and develop power trade opportunities among the countries participating in this Nile Basin Initiative. Several studies for key interconnection transmission lines have been carried out and several projects been identified for which substantial financial support has already been pledged by the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the countries concerned.

Selected
KEMA was selected by NBI to design and carry out a training workshop aiming to expose participants to international best practices in generation and transmission system expansion planning techniques and methodologies. The training included several modules focusing on policy and regulatory aspects, generation and transmission system planning, economics of interconnections, social and environmental analysis, and investment appraisal techniques.