What can the Continental System Masterplan achieve for Africa’s electricity supply industries?

Financing transmission interconnection projects is one of the most intractable challenges for Africa’s Electricity Supply Industries, but also one of the most strategically important.

That’s why the expected approval by African heads of state of the African Union’s Continental Power System Master Plan (CMP) during the COP28 summit global climate conference in Dubai is a key moment.

Initial projects from this roadmap towards an Africa-wide interconnected power market driven predominantly by renewable energy have revealed a yawning gap between current levels of supply and what is needed for universal electricity access and an equally vast financing gap.

In an online discussion, African Energy managing director John Hamilton and members of the editorial team will be looking at what the CMP can realistically achieve, and where interconnector projects could open new opportunities for delivering power in a sustainable, and therefore potentially commercial, way.