The Southern African Power Pool looks ahead to growth as it marks 30 years

Southern Africa, like much of the rest of the continent, has long struggled with inadequate electricity supply. Yet, amid the chronic shortages, some countries find themselves sitting on surpluses while their neighbours remain in the dark. This state of affairs led the 12 inland members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to flick the switch on a bold idea – the creation of a central electricity trading hub – in March 1995 to take advantage of the surpluses by sharing electricity across the region. Although it started as a regional cooperation and electricity resource sharing initiative, it later shifted to a more competitive set of wholesale electricity markets, including a short-term energy market, introduced in 2001, and a day-ahead market, which was added in 2009.