AUDA-NEPAD
February 2023
Grid-connected BESS
AUDA-NEPAD, the development arm of the African Union, was developing a Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP), an early engineering building block of the proposed African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM). The CMP was a computer model that informed globally optimal investment decisions across generation, transmission, and distribution technologies in Africa’s power systems. On behalf of ECODIT LLC, we lead a small team of battery energy storage experts to deliver the battery energy storage system (BESS) component of the CMP. The BESS component addressed three major areas: (i) Creating a database of existing and planned major on- and off-grid BESS projects across Africa, (ii) Detailed technology roadmapping (cost and performance profiles to 2040) of both commercial and emerging BESS technologies relevant to African use cases and projecting BESS deployment potential to 2040 under defined scenarios, and (iii) Detailed review of the regulatory framework and market design recommendations to promote grid-integration of BESS solutions in Africa’s power systems.