The second phase of the Peer Review and Learning Network (PRLN), led by the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town in collaboration with GET.transform, officially commenced with an Induction and Dissemination Workshop held mid-February in Cape Town, South Africa. The workshop brought together a new cohort of six CEOs from Egypt, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and Mozambique, who will be key participants in the next phase of the initiative, focusing on strengthening regulatory governance, substance and impact frameworks across the African power sector. The new cohort is thrilled and committed to undertaking transformative reviews in their respective countries.
The workshop also saw the participation of the Phase 1 cohort, which included regulator CEOs from Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa, who shared valuable insights and learnings from their previous involvement in the network.
Discussions at the workshop centered around the urgent need for African regulators to harmonise regulatory governance, tools, and frameworks in alignment with energy transition and decarbonisation goals. In-depth thematic discussions covered regulatory governance, substance and impact. Regulators were also exposed to structured arrangement for procuring new renewable power in Africa using competitive tenders and auctions. The workshop sessions further explored utilising dynamic, responsive, and adaptive regulatory approaches as vital components for tackling the uncertainty challenges emerging from energy transitions and fast-paced power market reforms which require rethinking how traditional incentive regulation should evolve. These approaches will help maximise the benefits of renewable energy investments and innovations, while also adapting to disruptive changes in the power sector. These changes are creating challenges as well as vast opportunities for various stakeholders that CEOs regulate.
Expert perspectives from international partners like the African Development Bank, the African Forum for Utility Regulators, the European Union, the GIZ, the Regional Electricity Regulators Association, the African School of Regulation, the Africa-Europe Energy Partnership, and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) that work in collaboration with the PRLN, enriched the conversations, highlighting the importance of navigating the future of energy regulation to ensure the sector’s sustainability and resilience, as well as integration of the power sector via regional power pools and African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM).
Stay tuned for further updates on the regulators’ jointly yielded impact as the second phase of the PRLN unfolds.
