Southern African Power Pool
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is a regional association of national electricity utilities from twelve Southern African countries, established to interconnect power grids, coordinate system operations, and enable cross-border electricity trading for reliable and cost-effective supply across the region.[1][2] Formed in August 1995 during a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Kempton Park, South Africa, the SAPP originated from an Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding signed by SADC member governments (excluding Mauritius), creating Africa's first formal international power pool to address shared electricity challenges through pooled resources.[3][4] The organization's core functions involve planning and operating interconnected power systems, providing a platform for resolving regional power issues, and promoting exchanges that leverage surplus generation in hydro-rich or coal-dependent nations to offset deficits elsewhere, such as during South Africa's recurrent load shedding episodes.[3][5] Member utilities represent Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with a combined installed capacity exceeding 80,000 MW dominated by South Africa's Eskom.[6][7] Key achievements include the development of a common synchronous grid facilitating multilateral trades, which grew in volume amid rising regional demand, and initiatives toward a fully competitive day-ahead market, though implementation lags due to infrastructure deficits, transmission constraints, and national policy variances.[8][9][10] Persistent challenges encompass aging grids prone to outages, insufficient new generation amid economic and political hurdles, and trust deficits among members that limit deeper integration, as evidenced by stalled interconnections and reliance on bilateral deals over pooled mechanisms.[11][12][13]Formation and Historical Development
Establishment and Initial Framework
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) originated from efforts in the early 1990s to enhance regional electricity cooperation amid varying national capacities and growing demand in Southern Africa. An initial Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 1994 by utilities from Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), establishing preliminary cooperation for sharing costs and benefits of power system interconnections.[14] This laid the operational groundwork by committing participants to joint planning and emergency assistance protocols.[15] The formal establishment occurred on 28 August 1995, when SADC energy ministers signed the Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a summit in Kempton Park, South Africa, excluding Mauritius from participation.[16][3] This MoU, approved by the SADC Council of Ministers, provided the legal foundation for SAPP as the first formal international power pool in Africa, authorizing national utilities to engage in cross-border activities.[17][18] The founding members comprised 12 countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini (then Swaziland), Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[3] The initial framework emphasized short-term energy trading, reserve margin sharing, and coordinated system operations to improve reliability and efficiency without immediate large-scale infrastructure mandates.[19] It operated under SADC oversight, with utilities responsible for implementing bilateral and multilateral exchanges guided by operating guidelines that prioritized economic dispatch and mutual support during shortages.[3] This structure aimed to leverage surplus generation—predominantly hydroelectric in upstream nations and coal-based in South Africa—for regional benefit, though early implementation focused on ad-hoc trades rather than a fully competitive market.[9]Key Milestones in Expansion and Market Operations
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) was established in 1995 through an inter-governmental agreement among Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to facilitate cross-border electricity trade and grid interconnection, initially involving five countries with a focus on bilateral exchanges amid post-apartheid regional reconciliation efforts.[20][9] Early operations emphasized operational coordination rather than competitive markets, with the first multilateral power trades occurring shortly after formation, enabling surplus exports from hydro-rich nations like Zambia and Zimbabwe to deficit areas in South Africa.[19] A pivotal shift toward structured market operations began in 2001 with the launch of the Short-Term Energy Market (STEM), which introduced standardized bilateral contracts for short-term trades, fostering initial competition and reducing reliance on ad-hoc agreements.[8] This was followed in January 2004 by the initiation of competitive market development, culminating in the December 2009 commissioning of the Day-Ahead Market (DAM), a real-time auction platform matching hourly bids from generators and utilities across the pool, which has since handled increasing volumes despite transmission constraints.[21][22] Expansion milestones have centered on grid interconnections to integrate isolated systems, with key projects including the completion of 400 kV lines linking South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana by the early 2000s, expanding the synchronous grid to over 70,000 km of transmission lines.[8] Recent advancements include the ongoing Malawi-Mozambique interconnection, slated for commissioning in late 2025 to connect Malawi's grid, and the Zambia-Tanzania line to incorporate Tanzania, addressing prior isolation of these members and potentially adding 1,000 MW of transfer capacity.[23][24] The ANNA 400 kV project, advancing Angola's integration via Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, represents a further step toward full SADC connectivity, with wheeling revenues projected to fund de-risked investments exceeding US$20 million by 2025.[25][26] These developments have incrementally raised peak interconnected capacity from 40 GW in the early 2010s to approximately 82 GW, though utilization remains hampered by underinvestment in cross-border lines.[7]Organizational Structure and Membership
Member Countries and Utilities
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) includes national power utilities from twelve member countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC): Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[27] Each country is represented by a primary national utility responsible for generation, transmission, or distribution, facilitating regional coordination on power trading, interconnections, and grid stability.[27] Membership extends to select independent power producers (IPPs) that contribute to cross-border energy flows, though national utilities form the core of governance and operational participation.[27] The following table lists the national utilities by country, based on official SAPP records:| Country | National Utility | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Botswana | Botswana Power Corporation | BPC |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Société Nationale d'Électricité | SNEL |
| Eswatini | Eswatini Electricity Company | EEC |
| Lesotho | Lesotho Electricity Corporation | LEC |
| Malawi | Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi | ESCOM |
| Mozambique | Electricidade de Moçambique | EDM |
| Namibia | NamPower | NamPower |
| South Africa | Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd | Eskom |
| Tanzania | Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited | TANESCO |
| Zambia | Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation | ZESCO |
| Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company | ZETDC |
Governance Mechanisms and Regional Coordination
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is governed primarily through a framework of inter-governmental and inter-utility agreements that establish binding commitments among member states and utilities for regional power coordination. These include the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (IGMOU), signed in 1990 by Southern African Development Community (SADC) energy ministers, which provides the political foundation for cross-border electricity exchange, and the Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding (IUMOU) of 1994, which operationalizes technical and commercial cooperation among utilities. Additional agreements cover operating guidelines, dispute resolution, and market rules, forming a total of five core instruments that ensure enforceability without supranational authority overriding national sovereignty.[28][29] At the apex of SAPP's governance is the Executive Committee (EXCO), comprising chief executives from member utilities, which serves as the highest decision-making body with binding authority over pool operations and policy. The EXCO approves strategic plans, budgets, and membership expansions, meeting biannually to resolve disputes and endorse regional initiatives, such as interconnection projects. Reporting to the EXCO is the Management Committee (MANCO), which oversees day-to-day implementation, reviews recommendations from sub-committees, and coordinates with the SAPP Coordination Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, responsible for real-time system monitoring and short-term trading facilitation.[30][31][15] Regional coordination is achieved through four specialized sub-committees under MANCO: the Planning Sub-Committee, which develops long-term generation and transmission expansion plans via integrated resource planning models; the Operating Sub-Committee, focused on grid stability, reserve sharing, and emergency protocols; the Markets Sub-Committee, which designs competitive bidding mechanisms like the Day-Ahead Market launched in 2001; and the Environmental Sub-Committee, addressing sustainability in cross-border projects. These bodies facilitate data sharing, joint forecasting, and wheeling arrangements, enabling utilities to optimize surplus power exports—such as Zambia's hydropower to South Africa during wet seasons—and mitigate deficits through imports, with over 50 bilateral and multilateral trades coordinated annually as of 2023.[3][32][33] This structure promotes causal linkages in regional energy security by incentivizing investments in interconnectors, like the 2,200 MW Caprivi Link completed in 2018, while limitations in enforcement—due to reliance on voluntary compliance and national priorities—have occasionally hindered full integration, as evidenced by payment delays in trades exceeding $100 million in arrears reported in 2022. SAPP's coordination extends to external partnerships, including with the World Bank for project funding and SADC for policy alignment, ensuring mechanisms evolve toward a competitive single market without ceding control to centralized regulation.[34][35][10]Operational and Technical Framework
Power Trading Systems and Markets
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) operates multiple trading platforms designed to facilitate electricity exchanges among member utilities, primarily through bilateral agreements supplemented by competitive short-term markets. These systems aim to optimize resource utilization across the region by enabling cross-border power flows, with trading governed by the SAPP Market Book of Rules, which outlines participant obligations, pricing mechanisms, and dispute resolution.[36] Bilateral trading dominates, accounting for the majority of volumes, as it supports long-term supply-demand balancing and infrastructure investments via mutually negotiated contracts between sellers and buyers, often spanning months or years.[37] In contrast, competitive markets introduce auction-based mechanisms to capture short-term surpluses and deficits, evolving from the Short-Term Energy Market (STEM) launched in 2001 to a post-STEM balancing market in 2002, and culminating in the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) introduced in 2009.[38][39] The DAM functions as a firm energy market utilizing a double-sided auction process, where participants submit bids for hourly contracts to be delivered the following day, with market-clearing prices determined post-auction and published for transparency; it operates on a trial basis pending full implementation, incorporating transmission constraints and ancillary services.[19][40] Complementing this, the Intra-Day Market enables continuous trading to adjust schedules closer to real-time operations, addressing unforeseen imbalances, while forward physical markets handle monthly or weekly contracts for medium-term planning.[36] Competitive trading remains limited relative to bilateral volumes; for instance, in January 2025, it constituted only 7% of total SAPP-traded power, reflecting preferences for stable, long-term deals amid variable hydro and coal generation patterns in the region.[5] Participants incur volume-based trading fees set by the Markets Sub-Committee to fund operations, with all trades requiring compliance with national export/import regulations and SAPP's operating guidelines for grid stability.[38][41] Efforts to expand competitive elements include harmonizing market rules with national security-of-supply priorities, though bilateral dominance persists due to regulatory fragmentation and limited transmission capacity, constraining spot market liquidity.[9][10] The framework supports both long-term contracts and short-term participation, with auctions facilitating price discovery but often yielding lower utilization compared to bilateral trades that underpin investments in generation and interconnectors.[42] Overall, these systems have incrementally increased regional trade efficiency since inception, though full competitiveness requires ongoing regulatory alignment and infrastructure upgrades.[7]Interconnection Infrastructure and Capacity
The interconnection infrastructure of the Southern African Power Pool comprises a synchronous AC grid primarily operating at 400 kV and 330 kV, linking the power systems of nine operating member utilities across Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo (partial), Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This network facilitates cross-border power flows, with total transfer capacities constrained by thermal, stability, and voltage limits on key lines. The grid's backbone includes multiple 400 kV lines radiating from South Africa, such as the Apollo-Aggeneis interconnector to Namibia and routes through Botswana to Zimbabwe and Zambia.[29][43] Transfer capacities on major corridors vary by operational limits, with the South Africa-to-northern countries pathway (via Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia) supporting approximately 500 MW of net export from South Africa during peak trade periods. The Zambia-Namibia DC interconnector provides 180 MW capacity, while the Zambia-DRC link enables up to 220 MW flows, primarily supporting imports to Zambia from Inga hydropower. These capacities are dynamically managed through SAPP's scheduling systems to prevent overloads, though bottlenecks persist due to aging infrastructure and limited redundancy.[44] Expansion efforts focus on HVDC lines to integrate surplus generation and non-operating members (Angola, Malawi, Tanzania). The Western Power Corridor (Westcor) project envisions a 1,700 km HVDC line from Inga (DRC) through Angola, Namibia, and Botswana to South Africa, with dual 1,500 MW converter stations for 3,000 MW total capacity, though construction delays have postponed commissioning beyond initial 2010s targets. Planned interconnections, such as Angola-Tanzania by 2027, aim to close regional gaps, with the SAPP Pool Plan prioritizing reinforcements to boost overall transfer limits by thousands of MW by 2030.[45][46]| Major Interconnector | Countries Linked | Capacity (MW) | Type/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa-Botswana-Zimbabwe-Zambia corridor | South Africa to Zambia | ~500 | AC 400 kV; primary export route from South Africa[44] |
| Zambia-Namibia | Zambia-Namibia | 180 | DC line; operational since early 2000s[44] |
| Zambia-DRC | Zambia-DRC | 220 | AC link; supports Inga imports[44] |
| Western Power Corridor (planned) | DRC-Angola-Namibia-Botswana-South Africa | 3,000 | HVDC; dual 1,500 MW converters[45] |
Achievements and Economic Impacts
Enhancements in Regional Reliability and Trade Volumes
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) has facilitated notable increases in cross-border electricity trade volumes through the development of competitive markets, including the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) and Intraday Market (IDM), which were progressively introduced following the initial Short-Term Energy Market in 2001.[21] In May 2025, DAM traded volumes reached 89.1 GWh, marking a 153% increase from 35.2 GWh in April 2025, driven by heightened participation from utilities amid regional supply variations.[47] Earlier in the year, overall market turnover across SAPP platforms surged to $16.3 million by February 2025, reflecting a 103% rise from January levels, with traded volumes correspondingly expanding due to improved market liquidity and bilateral-to-competitive trade shifts.[5] These gains stem from expanded interconnection capacities, enabling more efficient allocation of surplus generation, such as exports from hydropower-rich nations like Zambia to deficit areas in South Africa and Zimbabwe, with bilateral trades comprising 68-90% of total volumes in 2023-2024.[46] Regional reliability has been bolstered by SAPP's interconnection framework, which permits reserve sharing and mutual assistance during contingencies, reducing individual country exposure to isolated generation failures or demand peaks.[45] The pooled system's aggregate installed capacity of approximately 82 GW, against peak demands around 50 GW, allows for diversified resource utilization, including hydropower from the Zambezi basin and thermal baseload from South Africa, thereby mitigating frequency and voltage instability risks across the synchronous grid.[7] For instance, during periods of domestic shortages, such as South Africa's load-shedding episodes exacerbated by Eskom's constraints, imports via SAPP links have provided emergency balancing, enhancing overall grid resilience through optimized spinning reserves and reduced outage durations.[9] This integration has empirically lowered system vulnerability by enabling rapid power flows over high-voltage lines, like the Caprivi Link, which interconnects Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, fostering a more robust regional network capable of handling fluctuations without widespread cascading failures.[48]Contributions to Energy Security and Cost Reduction
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) bolsters regional energy security by interconnecting national grids, enabling real-time power exchanges that address imbalances between supply and demand across member states. This cross-border trading allows surplus-generating countries, such as Zambia or Mozambique during high hydropower seasons, to export electricity to deficit areas, mitigating risks from localized droughts, maintenance outages, or fuel shortages. For example, South Africa, facing chronic generation shortfalls, has imported power via SAPP interconnections to alleviate loadshedding, with bilateral and pool trades supporting up to several hundred megawatts during peak crisis periods in 2022–2023. Such diversification reduces vulnerability to unilateral disruptions, as evidenced by the pool's facilitation of reserve sharing, where operating margins are pooled regionally to cover contingencies that might overwhelm isolated systems.[49][50][10] SAPP's technical coordination further enhances reliability by standardizing grid operations and planning, including synchronized frequency control across a 70,000+ km transmission network spanning 12 countries. This has sustained a regional reserve margin above critical thresholds during high-demand events, such as the 2021–2022 dry season when hydropower-dependent nations like Zimbabwe imported thermal power from South Africa to avert blackouts. By promoting infrastructure investments with shared benefits, SAPP addresses supply variability inherent in hydro-dominant systems (which constitute over 40% of installed capacity), fostering a more resilient grid less prone to cascading failures.[34][39] On cost reduction, SAPP's competitive trading platforms, including the Day-Ahead Market (launched 2009) and Intra-Day Market, optimize dispatch by pitting generators against each other, yielding prices below marginal national production costs in many transactions. Intra-Day peak prices averaged 8.7 USc/kWh in January 2024, down from 9.9 USc/kWh the prior month, reflecting efficient short-term balancing that avoids expensive emergency generation like diesel peaking plants. Regional pooling also unlocks economies of scale, deferring redundant national builds; projections indicate up to $42 billion in cumulative generation and transmission savings through 2040 via optimized renewable integration and trade flows. These mechanisms have minimized outage-related economic losses, previously estimated at 5–7% of GDP in affected countries, by enabling cheaper imports over domestic curtailments.[51][52][53]Challenges and Criticisms
Infrastructure and Technical Limitations
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) faces significant infrastructure constraints, primarily stemming from insufficient cross-border transmission capacity, which limits the volume of electricity traded despite matched bilateral and day-ahead market deals. In one analysis, transmission bottlenecks resulted in 66% of competitively matched trade volumes failing to materialize, underscoring how physical grid limitations override contractual agreements.[39] Cross-border interconnectors, often operating near full capacity, restrict regional power flows, with historical data showing trades curtailed by available line ratings rather than demand or supply surpluses.[9] These constraints persist into 2025, as evidenced by SAPP's market performance report, where infrastructure bottlenecks directly impeded higher trade volumes amid ongoing regional deficits.[5] Technical limitations exacerbate these issues, including inconsistent power quality on interconnectors and challenges in maintaining synchronous grid stability across member utilities with varying equipment standards and operational practices. Frequency and voltage control problems arise during peak demand periods, as several SAPP countries lack sufficient reserve margins, leading to potential cascading failures or load shedding.[11] System disturbances, such as unplanned transmission line trips in countries like Zimbabwe, further highlight vulnerabilities in the aging network, with multiple incidents reported in early 2025 alone.[54] Vandalism and theft of high-voltage infrastructure compound reliability risks, imposing annual financial losses in the millions of U.S. dollars on utilities and delaying maintenance efforts.[55] Interconnection gaps remain pronounced for peripheral members, with only partial grid ties for countries like Angola and incomplete links for others, hindering full pool-wide optimization. Efforts to update transfer limits on key lines, such as those studied in late 2024 workshops, aim to quantify safe capacities but reveal underlying deficiencies in redundancy and expansion.[56] Overall, these limitations stem from underinvestment in generation-transmission alignment, where regional demand growth outpaces infrastructure upgrades, perpetuating deficits like the 2,154 MW shortfall noted in 2019 despite prior capacity additions.[57] Prioritizing transmission reinforcements is essential, yet funding and coordination shortfalls continue to impede progress across the pool.[58]Supply Reliability Issues and Regional Dependencies
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) exhibits significant supply reliability challenges stemming from asymmetric regional dependencies, where South Africa, through Eskom, dominates generation capacity and exports, accounting for approximately 80% of the region's electricity demand and exporting about 5% of its production to six neighboring members: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe.[49] This structure renders smaller members vulnerable to disruptions in South African supply, as Eskom's operational constraints, including maintenance delays and plant breakdowns, have historically curtailed exports during high-demand periods. For instance, countries such as Botswana, Namibia, and Eswatini import over 50% of their electricity from South Africa, amplifying the risk of cascading shortages when Eskom prioritizes domestic needs.[49] [29] Eskom's recurrent load shedding episodes, initiated prominently from 2007 onward due to capacity shortfalls and aging infrastructure, have directly impacted SAPP interconnectivity by reducing available export capacity, forcing import-reliant members to resort to costlier emergency imports or domestic rationing. Between 2019 and 2023, South Africa's load shedding stages escalated to level 6 or higher multiple times, correlating with diminished regional trade volumes and heightened vulnerability in the pool's synchronous grid.[59] Although load shedding was suspended from March 2024, the system's fragility persists, with unplanned outages risking renewed export limitations, as evidenced by Eskom's peaking stations operating near capacity limits to avert grid collapse.[59] [60] Hydropower dependencies exacerbate reliability issues, as hydro constitutes 21% of SAPP's installed capacity—primarily from shared resources like the Zambezi River basin—and is highly susceptible to climatic variability.[61] Severe droughts, such as those in 2015–2016 and 2019–2020, drastically reduced output from facilities like Kariba Dam, which supplies Zambia and Zimbabwe (where hydro exceeds 80% of generation in Zambia), leading to widespread blackouts and increased reliance on fossil fuel backups across the pool.[62] [63] Transmission constraints compound these problems, with reported voltage dips from faults and switching operations, alongside frequency control challenges in the interconnected grid, contributing to system instability during peak loads or contingencies. [64] Underdeveloped interconnections and high reactive power demands further limit intra-pool balancing, underscoring the need for enhanced grid hardening to mitigate single-point failures.Economic and Political Obstacles
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) faces significant economic obstacles, primarily stemming from chronic underinvestment in transmission infrastructure and non-cost-reflective pricing mechanisms. Investments in regional interconnections remain inadequate, leading to frequent grid disturbances—such as the 89 incidents recorded in 2019—that disrupt cross-border trade and exacerbate supply shortages.[58] Vertically integrated state-owned utilities, dominant in the region, often apply pricing that fails to reflect true costs, limiting efficiency gains and deterring private sector participation in power trading.[58] These issues are compounded by broader regional debt distress, which constrains funding for energy projects and hinders transitions to more reliable generation sources.[65] Funding challenges further impede progress, as low levels of capital inflow result in persistent power failures that slow GDP growth across member states.[66] Attracting investment is hampered by high perceived risks, including currency fluctuations and legal uncertainties surrounding power purchase agreements, which undermine long-term commitments from independent power producers.[67] Dependence on external financing from institutions like the African Development Bank highlights the pool's vulnerability to external economic conditions, with domestic utilities struggling to mobilize resources amid competing national priorities.[66] Politically, SAPP's effectiveness is undermined by weak governance structures and divergent national interests among its 12 member states. The organization lacks binding enforcement powers, functioning primarily as an advisory body without authority to compel compliance on infrastructure development or trade protocols, which allows national utilities to prioritize domestic agendas over regional integration.[66] This decentralized approach has left key members like Tanzania, Malawi, and Angola disconnected from the pool's grid due to non-operational utilities and unresolved policy alignments.[66] Political discord, including interference in market operations and trust deficits between utilities, further erodes cooperation, as seen in disputes over reactive power compensation between Eskom (South Africa) and the Mozambique Transmission Company (MOTRACO).[19][10] Regional political instability and varying energy policy priorities—ranging from fossil fuel reliance in some states to renewables in others—complicate harmonization efforts, often resulting in non-tariff barriers that restrict trade volumes.[68][66] Dominance by South Africa's Eskom, plagued by internal governance failures and corruption scandals, amplifies these risks, as its operational crises propagate unreliability across the pool despite South Africa's outsized generation capacity.[59][10] Without stronger supranational regulatory mechanisms, such as an empowered regional electricity regulator, these political hurdles perpetuate fragmented integration and expose the pool to exogenous shocks like member-state policy reversals.[58]Recent Developments
Market Performance and Trading Trends (2020–2025)
Total electricity traded within the SAPP, encompassing both bilateral contracts and competitive markets, reached approximately 7.6 TWh during the SAPP year from April 2023 to March 2024, representing only a few percent of the region's overall generation capacity amid persistent supply shortages.[69] This volume reflected growth from earlier years, with bilateral trades dominating at over 80% of activity, driven by long-term agreements rather than spot market dynamics.[9] However, competitive trading—primarily through the Day-Ahead Market (DAM), Intraday Market (IDM), and forward physical markets—saw volumes decline sharply in the latter period, falling 22% to 1,245 GWh in the 2023/24 SAPP year from prior levels around 1,600 GWh.[9] Early in the period, 2020 trading volumes in competitive markets totaled roughly 1,527 GWh, down 28% from 2019 due to COVID-19-induced demand reductions across member states, including a 23% drop in South African electricity consumption in April 2020.[70][71] Recovery followed in 2021, with volumes at 1,439 GWh, though still constrained by generation shortfalls that prevented 16% of scheduled bilateral trades.[72] By the April 2022–March 2023 SAPP year, DAM volumes alone hit 1,270 GWh, comprising 80% of competitive trade, signaling temporary expansion in spot market participation before reversals tied to escalating load shedding in South Africa, the region's primary exporter.[73] From 2023 onward, trends shifted downward amid technical and supply limitations, with competitive volumes comprising just 16% of total trade in 2023/24 and dropping to 7% by January 2025.[69][5] Monthly competitive traded volumes fluctuated, reaching 97.6 GWh in April 2022 but falling to 83.1 GWh in May 2024 and 112 GWh in September 2025, often with DAM matching rates below 50% due to unmatched bids from surplus and deficit utilities.[74] In May 2025, DAM matched 109 GWh out of 249 GWh offered, yielding a 44% success rate, underscoring persistent imbalances between available capacity and demand.| SAPP Year | Competitive Traded Volume (GWh) | Share of Total Trade (%) | Key Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | ~1,527 | N/A | COVID-19 demand drop[70] |
| 2021/22 | ~1,439 | N/A | Post-recovery constraints[72] |
| 2022/23 | ~1,587 | ~20 | Peak DAM activity[73][9] |
| 2023/24 | 1,245 | 16 | Supply shortages[9][69] |
| 2024/25 (partial) | Variable (e.g., 91 GWh May) | 7 (Jan) | Declining participation[5] |