Trans-border hydropower the way ahead for Nile Basin

The water-energy nexus is one of the most important issues facing sub Saharan Africa today.

Water is needed for energy generation and transmission, particularly for hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal energy sources. Energy is needed to produce, transport, treat and distribute water.

The more energy we need, the more water we use, and vice versa. As the populations grow in number and affluence, the demand for both water and energy is increasing faster than ever.

The Nile Basin, covering an area of 3.18 million square kilometers and shared by 11 countries with a population of over 400 million people, is no exception.

Most countries in the Nile Basin are undergoing rapid economic growth, which in turn has increased demand for water, energy, and food. Yet, with the exception of Egypt, clean energy supply in the Nile Basin countries remains inadequate, unreliable and expensive.

Electricity consumption in the region is among the lowest in the world, with the bulk of the population in rural areas remaining dependent on biomass energy sources with all their negative impacts on the environment.

The Nile Basin offers huge potential for hydroelectric power generation exceeding 20 Gigawatts, potential that largely remains untapped, with existing facilities representing about 26 per cent of potential capacity.

The Nile Basin Initiative-led comprehensive study on Basin-Wide Power Development Options and Trade Opportunities in the Nile Basin (December 2011) indicated that the total energy demand in the Nile Basin countries is expected to increase from 183,711 Giggawatt-hours in 2010 to 1,170,328 Giggawatt-hours by the year 2035, representing an increase of 300 per cent.

In addition, the Nile Basin remains the only region on the African continent without a functional regional power grid, with very insignificant volumes of power traded among the countries.

This slow pace of hydropower development constrains economic growth in the riparian countries; especially those that are highly dependent on it such as Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Uganda that rely on it for 80 per cent or more of their power.

Each riparian country faces unique challenges, but all have ambitious national development plans to fuel economic growth and promote poverty alleviation efforts; and all the plans depend on energy availability.

Hydropower is their preferred source of energy for various reasons, key among them the low production cost of electricity from hydropower options, which makes power affordable to the urban and rural poor.

However, if each riparian state were to pursue and implement its national hydropower infrastructure development plans on the River Nile without consideration of the larger river basin context, there is a risk that some national hydropower investments could be sub-optimal from a regional viewpoint. The answer lies in trans-boundary water co-operation.

Trans-boundary or basin-wide water co-operation in hydropower development and management would enable Nile riparian countries to unlock their hydropower potential and allow for a more efficient location and operation of hydropower infrastructure along with a significant reduction in project financing risks.

Riparian countries would exchange technical know-how and share related costs for the very large hydropower infrastructure investments that are required to meet the region’s power demand.

Countries would then embark on constructing transmission lines and interconnectors that would greatly enhance cross-border power trade and markets among riparian countries as well as promote regional integration.

The Nile Basin Initiative is leading efforts to transform the region’s power sector in various ways. The Ethiopia-Sudan Transmission Interconnection, facilitating cross-border power trade between the two countries, was commissioned in 2013.

Implementation of a further 1,500 kilometres of interconnected grid for Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda is ongoing.

Preparation of other interconnectors between Kenya and Tanzania; Iringa and Mbeya; Uganda (Nkenda) and DR Congo (Beni); and Tanzania and Zambia are at advanced stage with most of the studies completed and resource mobilisation ongoing. Once completed, these will interconnect the East African Power Pool to the Southern Power Pool; thereby strengthening the power backbone of the Nile riparian countries.

As NBI governments and citizens celebrate this year’s annual Nile Day (to commemorate the establishment of NBI on February22, 1999), the event is dedicated to theme of “Water and energy: National challenges, trans-boundary solutions.”

The objective is to raise awareness about the linkages between water and energy and the importance of Nile co-operation in hydropower generation. 

Jane Kyomuhendo is a communications specialist at the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat in Entebbe, Uganda