The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will set up an energy sector regulator in the region to facilitate trade and investment in the area and improve regional energy security, a source close to the process said on Monday.

“The idea is for an entity that can harmonise existing legislation. [The investor] has to meet the same conditions and requirements in any other country in the region, because we are harmonized and coordinated and this entity will contribute to this,” president of Mozambique Energy Regulatory Authority (ARENE), Guilherme Mavila, said.

Mavila advanced this information during a meeting of SADC energy sector experts in Maputo, a two-day meeting which aims to produce proposals and reflections on the transformation of the Southern African Regional Electricity Regulators Association (RERA) into a regional energy regulator.

A study to this effect is underway and will be completed later this year.

[With this meeting] we intend to find an entity to implement the decisions and treaties that are agreed at the regional level,” Mavila added.

The project is part of the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP) launched in 2012 during the 32nd SADC Heads of State and Government Summit held in Mozambique in August 2012.

Meanwhile, leaders and experts from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) energy sector are meeting in Maputo to assess the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP), among many subjects.

The southern African region faces a number of challenges regarding the provision of adequate regional infrastructure and energy supply capable of supporting increasing industrial development and expanding access.

According to a statement cited by Noticias, this situation means that some SADC member states have access to electricity in rural areas of less than 10%, with the region falling short of levels achieved by other economic communities on the continent as regards access to electricity.

Implementation of the RIDMP is critical for exploration, through regional integration, of the region’s full energy potential, with vast and diversified resources such as water, coal, natural gas and wind and solar energy.

These and other key topics will be addressed at the two-day meeting, which is organised by the Southern African Regional Electricity Regulators Association (RERA).

— Further Africa