The ECOWAS Regional Electricity Code is at the center of discussions at a workshop being held from September 13 to 16, 2022 in Dakar, Senegal. Energy experts from ECOWAS Member States, the European Union, the ECOWAS Directorate of Energy and Mines, ECOWAS specialized agencies in charge of energy and certain regional institutions 4 days to adopt the project document submitted for their assessment.
The official opening ceremony of this workshop was chaired by Mr. Issa DIONE, Director of Cabinet, representing HE Mrs. Aïssatou Sophie GLADIMA, Minister of Petroleum and Energy of Senegal. After expressing his country’s gratitude to ECOWAS and the European Union, Mr. DIONE insisted on setting out the objectives that Senegal has set itself through the Emerging Senegal Plan, in order to meet the challenges of the energy sector through the sector’s new development policy letter.
The Chief of Staff did not fail to recall that within ECOWAS the energy sector still faces significant structural challenges. According to him, to face these challenges, the need for a strengthening of the regulatory framework is necessary in order to increase private investments and improve the sustainable access of populations to electricity. He ended his intervention with this appeal to the participants: ” We hope that during your deliberations, which will focus on the harmonization of the texts and laws governing the electricity sectors in the ECOWAS zone, we will have a code of clear regional electricity that meets the requirements of a regional market and changes in the international context. »
Also present at the opening of this workshop, the Representative of the European Union recalled the importance that her institution attaches to this essential document for meeting the structural challenges that remain in the region, particularly with regard to the implementation of rules allowing a single electricity market, better access of populations to electricity and the mobilization of capital from private sector players.
Representing Commissioner Sédiko DOUKA in charge of Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization of ECOWAS, the Director of Energy and Mines of ECOWAS, Mr. Bayaornibè DABIRE first, on behalf of HE Omar Salieu TOURAY, President of the ECOWAS Commission, thanked the Senegalese authorities for the facilities granted within the framework of this activity, and conveys the gratitude of ECOWAS to the European Union for all the support it continues to provide to the region for the construction of a fully integrated energy.
It is then specified that the adoption of a regional electricity code is one of the flagship activities of the “Programme for the Improvement of Governance of the Energy Sector in West Africa (AGoSE-AO)”, concluded by the ECOWAS Commission with the European Union under the 11th EDF. This program, amounting to 32 million Euros, aims to improve regional governance of the energy sector in order to enable West African States to achieve the following three objectives: (1) ensure the universal access to modern energy services, (2) doubling energy efficiency to reduce total energy consumption and (3) doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
In his speech, the Director of Energy and Mines of ECOWAS recalled that the team of NTU International, responsible for the development of the Regional Electricity Code has already produced the two deliverables expected from this activity, namely the Data Collection, Diagnostic and Code Outline Report and the Draft Code Report. The first report on the draft Code was reviewed in Ouagadougou in October 2021. The comments made by the experts then served as the basis for the development of the revised version of the draft Regional Code which is the subject of the work of this workshop.
While reminding participants that the objective of this workshop is to carry out a thorough review of the revised draft code in order to ensure that its provisions are part of a harmonization of legal and institutional instruments for improved governance of the sub- electricity sector in our region, Mr. DABIRE urged them to work constructively so that an enriched document be submitted to the ECOWAS Ministers in charge of energy for validation.
The following results are expected at the end of this workshop: validation of the definition of the general principles , validation of the articles on the organization and functioning of the electricity sector in West Africa West, as well as the validation of technical provisions and rules relating to electricity .
