MBABANE – Eswatini stands to benefit from strengthened regional electricity reliability and affordability following the World Bank’s approval of a US$12 million (over E200 million) technical assistance project.
This is a project meant to expand and enhance power trading under the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
The project, formally known as the Technical Assistance to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) or RETRADE SAPP, was approved on November 4, 2025.
SAPP is a coordinated regional electricity market that includes 12 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, among them Eswatini.
The project aims to deepen regional power market participation, expand cross-border electricity trading and support greater integration of renewable energy across the region.
It was established to enhance cross-border electricity trading and has allowed countries to share energy resources more effectively.
Despite these efforts, transmission bottlenecks remain a significant challenge and ageing infrastructure continues to hamper growth.
EEC continues to participate as a member of the SAPP where it is recognised as a National Power Utility. The total energy traded in the SAPP markets for the year 2023/24 was 139.57 GWh, mainly accumulated in the first half of the year and this was a 16.2 per cent increase from the 120.07GWh recorded in the 2022/23 financial year.
According to the EEC 2023/24 Annual Report, the energy market clearing prices were at times very high, thus limiting the volumes that could be sourced from the markets, particularly in the period from November 2023 to January 2024. The EEC realised savings of around E91.1 million through the trading of energy from the SAPP markets, representing a significant increase compared to E25.8 million saved in the previous year. The RETRADE SAPP project is the second phase of the Regional Energy Transmission, Trade and Decarbonisation Project in Southern Africa Multi-Phase Programmatic Approach (RETRADE-SA MPA). It also supports preparations for future World Bank-financed interconnector infrastructure that will link national power systems across SADC.
The programme aligns with the African Union Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan, and the Africa Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) framework. It also contributes to Mission 300, which aims to connect 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.
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The SAPP Interconnected Grid.