Computer model sheds light on African electricity trade

The proposed Inga dam on the Congo River would provide inexpensive hydroelectric power to the 12 member nations of the South African Power Pool.

January 6, 2000
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

Researchers at the State Utility Forecasting Group of Purdue University have developed a computer model that simulates electricity trade among the 12 member nations of the South African Power Pool, allowing the group to share electricity with greater efficiency.

"The whole idea is to present SAPP with savings associated with free trade," said Tom Sparrow, a professor of industrial engineering at Purdue. "Countries that trade together stay together."

The power pool was established in December 1995 to determine how best to trade electrical resources within a region about the size of the continental United States. The area boasts untapped, inexpensive hydroelectric power potential from the Congo and Zambezi rivers.

A 1993 study by the Southern African Development Community and the World Bank estimated that optimal use of the region's resources would save the SAPP $1.6 billion over 10 years.

Findings based on the Purdue University model were presented at the recent U.S.-African Energy Ministers Conference in Tucson, Arizona. According to these results, the power pool's first step should be to re-commission pulverized coal plants in South Africa after they are retrofitted to meet environmental regulations for particulate matter.

SAPP's second step, said Sparrow, is to "start building transmission lines real quick." The northern-tier countries in the power pool have excess hydropower that would be a boon to South Africa, the neediest of the 12 nations.

Over the long term, the power pool ought to consider tapping hydropower resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tapping those resources, however, means constructing dams that will inevitably displace people and impact habitat, said Sparrow.

"The [proposed] Inga dam is the key to a large-scale grid in Africa," he said. The dam would span the Congo River, one of the largest in the world, and would dwarf even the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtzee River in China.

"You have global warming [from the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity] versus displacement of native habitats. The two cultures sort of collide," said Sparrow.

Other options for the region are the development of alternative forms of energy such as solar and geothermal. "However, if you really want a market for solar, the last thing you want to see is a grid developing," said Sparrow.

Solar energy cannot compete with low-cost power from the grid system, Sparrow explained. Save for a few environmentalists, no members of the power pool are paying attention to alternative technologies, he said.

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