WAPP Forum in Cotonou: a step towards a common electricity market

The city of Cotonou hosted on 16 January 2017 a Forum on the development of the electricity market in West Africa. The objective of this forum is for stakeholders to identify a timetable for the implementation of the electricity market in order to begin the process towards the end of the energy deficit within the ECOWAS area.

"It was necessary for the actors to have a knowledge of the regional market and adhere to the rules and operating system of the market.

We want to leave this forum with a roadmap to move towards the common electricity market, "said WAPP Secretary General Apollinaire Siengui Ki. The West African Power Pool (WAPP), or French West African Power Exchange (Eeeoa), is a $ 26-billion integrating project that will be evaluated over ten years and that will link electrical grids in 14 countries Of the ECOWAS members of the initiative. Yves Gillet, leader of the European Union delegation in Cotonou and contributor to the project through the 11th European Development Fund, "Failure is not allowed because we must bear in mind that Access to sustainable, quality and low-cost energy is a fundamental right as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (Odd).

Jean-Claude Hounsou, Minister of Energy and Mines, said: "The West African electricity trading system is a fine example of cooperation that reflects the willingness of ECOWAS member states to" To work for economic integration through the pooling of their energy resources ".