Africa’s economic growth is expected to accelerate over the next few years. To unlock the region’s economic and social growth potential, it is important to ensure the availability of reliable and affordable power. With 600 million people in the region lacking access to power and a rising population, the role of electricity becomes even more critical. 

Initiatives to add huge generation capacities are under way across Africa. In parallel, African economies are now prioritising the creation of a strong, effective and efficient transmission network to ensure that new generation reaches the intended end-consumers. The focus is also on the creation of regional grids that will help unlock the electricity trade potential in the continent and optimise energy costs by sharing resources.

While financial and institutional support is being extended to the region by donor agencies to fast-track the development of transmission, the private sector could play an important role in bridging this gap. Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria are evaluating new models and frameworks to attract private sector financing in transmission development. 

As renewable energy assumes a bigger role in the region’s generation mix, maintaining grid resilience and security will become paramount, and utilities will be required to adopt solutions for generation forecasting and grid balancing. Along with expanding the physical grid, African utilities are expected to invest in new technologies to make the grids more reliable, resilient, secure and smart. 

Global Transmission Report is organising its second Power Transmission in Africa conference on January 21-22, 2020 at Hyatt Regency, Johannesburg. The objective of the conference is to highlight the transmission plans of utilities and investment opportunities in the region, and to discuss technological and financing solutions to realise these. The conference will bring together leading utilities, transmission system operators, regulators, investors, consultants, equipment suppliers and solution providers to help shape the future of Africa’s power transmission industry.

The one-and-a-half day conference will have 12 sessions covering a wide range of topics relevant to all stakeholders in the power transmission segment in Africa. It will present the investment plans of leading utilities and their expectations. It will also discuss regional interconnection projects and their status.  

With government budgets getting constrained, private capital in transmission is critical to ensure timely grid expansion. The conference will have a dedicated session on public-private partnership (PPP) opportunities in transmission; regulatory and policy developments, and plans of progressive economies; as well as relevant business models for private investment in transmission. 

The conference will showcase new technologies (high voltage direct current [HVDC], gas insulated switchgear [GIS], etc.) that are relevant for realising the expansion plans of utilities in Africa. It will also highlight the developments in smart grids in the region and the potential of digitalisation to address pressing problems relating to grid stability, reliability and security.  

The conference will explore challenges in integrating renewables into the grid and the role of energy storage for utilities.

It will also present optimal techniques for building new transmission solutions and the experience so far with these. There will be a dedicated session on the EPC experience to discuss key challenges in project execution and the possible solutions to address these.

There will be a separate session to discuss the plans of utilities to upgrade their existing assets and the solutions available to enhance grid capacity. The conference will also highlight various technologies for improving grid stability and reliability. It will have a session to discuss best practices in asset investment planning and solutions to help utilities better manage their transmission assets.

Key benefits to participants

The conference will enable delegates to:

• Get insights into Africa’s transmission market fundamentals
• Discover the key growth markets for transmission
• Get the latest updates on the plans and projects of leading utilities in the region
• Understand the challenges and issues faced by utilities and their expectations
• Learn about the PPP opportunities in transmission in the region
• Know more about utilities’ plans for grid upgrades, and asset planning and management practices
• Discuss strategies to make grids more reliable and secure
• Explore the latest developments in technologies and key equipment, and their relevance for the grids of the African region
• Share and learn from industry peers
• Influence industry leaders
• Interact with potential customers and partners