Why This Course?

The electricity markets in Africa are fast changing their design to ensure adequacy, efficiency and affordability. It is therefore vital that students understand the structure of the industry, regulatory institutions and the available frameworks. Various short course is specific to a particular area of specialization. This unique course has been developed to cover the whole spectrum of the electricity supply industry taking into consideration the emerging technical issues such as energy transition. It explores the principles underlying economic regulation, tariff setting and technical topics in power systems, optimization, and economics as presented a mathematically rigorous fashion.

The modules cover electricity production, electricity transmission & infrastructure, electricity delivery & consumption, trading of power, power derivatives, power trading platforms and operations of the both bilateral and power pooling. The facilitators will explain in detail all aspects wholesale electricity markets with associated operational and commercial elements.

The entire certificate programme includes various modules, study materials, an exam and certification.

OBJECTIVE

To understand the essential elements of the Eastern African electricity supply system and the future wholesale electricity market. The course includes several rounds of our spot market trading exercise, which simulates how traders submit offers to generate into the market each half-hour.  The practical sessions enhance your understanding of the course material and give insights into the fundamental spot market dynamics.

The aim of the course is:

1. to understand the fundamental microeconomic principles underpinning electricity markets;
2. to discuss different wholesale electricity market models adopted by various countries;
3. to discuss the role of scarcity pricing and capacity mechanisms and efficient design rules for balancing and reserves;
4. to review the challenges associated with the evolution of the part of TSOs and DSOs;
5. to discuss the potential for market power and present measures to mitigate market power;
6. to explain the long-term investment incentives, the impact of regulatory interventions on these incentives, and the critical elements of a sustainable market framework to support investment for the energy transition;
7. Discuss the tension between the theory underpinning energy markets and the practical implementation issues that regulators face (i.e., the “political economy” of power sector liberalization).

Course Modules