By ‘Majirata Latela
Preparations are at an advanced stage for the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) to strengthen its participation in regional power trading under the auspices of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
This arrangement will enable Lesotho to sell excess electricity to other Southern African countries and as part of the preparations, SAPP is due to open an office in Maseru soon.
The SAPP was created in August 1995 at the SADC summit held in Kempton Park, South Africa, when member governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (excluding Mauritius) signed an Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding for the formation of an electricity power pool in the region under the name of the Southern African Power Pool.
The ministers responsible for energy in the SADC region signed the Revised Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding on February 23 2006.
In an interview with this publication this week, LEC managing director, Mohato Seleke said LEC is currently looking for registered companies from all over the world to submit proposals for consultancy for the establishment of an LEC trading office.
“Depending on the needs of power supply from every country in the Southern African region, it will be easy for each country to secure and find electricity supply from all over the region. The pool allows countries to get electricity without having to make a call from each country in the region for power that they can sell.
“The agreement was signed after the realisation that there are other countries which produce more electricity while others run short of power. This market for selling power is open for all countries in the SADC region.
“SAPP also talks about trade and investment in the generation and selling of electricity regionally.
He added that with the creation of the LEC’s new strategic plan which was launched in November 2021 LEC has been tasked with the responsibility to look and ensure that Lesotho produces more than enough electricity. This, he said, LEC will make sure that power is produced with all the natural resources found in the country.
He observed currently Lesotho can produce electricity with the three sources of energy which are wind, sunlight (solar) and water (hydropower). He said LEC is now working very hard to make sure electricity is produced through all available sources independently or with the help of private sector.
He said when Lesotho has produced enough electricity and has excess supply for all its needs, that excess supply of energy will them be traded in the pool market. He added that in this pool countries will be able to also compare prices and availability of power that they need.
According to Seleke there are many ways of trading in the pool, from buying electricity just for a day to balance the networks to securing and buying electricity for months.
“The advertisement we have seen in our media is not just for local businesses, it is also open for international businesses so that we can have a pool of experts. We also don’t think there are enough experts in the country who can be able to set up such an office hear at LEC.,” he said.
On the other hand, LEC general manager engineering Mohlomi Seitlheko said there are two solar projects at Ha Marothole in Mafeteng which have reached their maturity stage. He said the two solar project which one is financed by the government and the other by the private sector are soon going to produce electricity. He said one power which is going to produce 30 megawatts per day is going to start producing in November or December this year.
Other projects which are in the pipeline are wind production of electricity in Mojira and Mohale’s Hoek. The projects are still a bit far as only studies have been done. Other projects include hydro power generation in Oxbow.
He said Lesotho has on a small scale been trading but in small units whereby Lesotho sells in excess electricity that it has secured and bought from Eskom and Mozambique where Lesotho buys electricity from.
“This pool promotes investment in the county because now investors can now come in Lesotho and set up power generating machines and sell electricity in other countries. This will increase Lesotho’s economic activity.
“It also helps in the pricing of electricity. Utilities such as LEC will now be able to see in the pool where they can get cheaper electricity from the regional countries. This will on the other hand reflect on our consumers as they may end up buying electricity at the cheaper price or prices not increasing every time,” he said.
According to SADC documents, the SAPP has many long-term goals it wishes to achieve. One of the main goals is to increase the accessibility of electricity to rural communities. Another goal is to improve the relationships between the member countries. There is need to develop sustainable development priorities, and to co-ordinate the planning of electric power.
Along with industrial productivity, electricity generation can assist in the SADC’s mandate of poverty elimination across Southern Africa. Only five percent of rural areas in Southern Africa have access to electricity. Lack of electric power impedes their access to clean water, limits the availability of food, and constrains access to clean, sustainable sanitation.
In 2010, SADC passed the Regional Energy Access Strategy and Action Plan, which aims to combine regional energy resources as a means of ensuring the entire SADC region has access to affordable, sustainable electricity.
The plan’s goal is to reduce the number of people in the region without access to energy by 50 percent in the next ten years. Then reduce the remaining population by 50 percent in the next five years, and continue cutting it in half every five years until the region has universal access.
The most recent developments to the Southern African Power Pool came between the years of 1995 and 2005, where multiple interconnections were added. In 1995, an interconnector that ran from South Africa to Zimbabwe was completed, a Mozambique-South Africa interconnector was fixed in 1997, a Mozambique-Zimbabwe interconnector was finished, and most recently two power lines connecting South Africa to Maputo were completed.
