Guinea has called on West African countries to deepen electricity cooperation and regional integration, warning that collective energy development is essential to strengthening energy security, expanding electricity access and accelerating economic growth across the sub-region.
The Prime Minister and Head of Government of Guinea, Amadou Oury Bah, made the call at the 21st General Assembly of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) in Conakry, where he represented President Mamadi Doumbouya.
Bah urged member states to establish a unified regional energy community built on shared standards, stronger cooperation and improved operational performance, describing electricity as a critical driver of sovereignty, economic competitiveness and social stability.
He noted that interconnecting the electricity networks of the 15 West African countries demonstrated the benefits of collective action, reaffirming Guinea’s commitment to regional power integration through its hydropower projects, including Kaleta, Souapiti, Koukoutamba, Sambangalou and Amaria.
According to him, the projects would strengthen Guinea’s electricity generation capacity and enable it to supply neighbouring countries, reinforcing regional energy solidarity.
Guinea’s Minister of Energy, Laye Sékou Camara, stressed the need to translate regional commitments into concrete results through improved governance, financial discipline and compliance with statutory obligations.
He explained that expanding electricity access nationally must go hand in hand with strengthening cross-border power exchanges, noting that generation capacity alone was insufficient without efficient transmission infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the WAPP Executive Board, Engineer Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, disclosed that the second phase of the regional electricity market was expected to begin in early 2027, introducing a day-ahead market for cross-border electricity transactions.
He said the market would establish transparent and non-discriminatory pricing based on supply and demand, marking a transition from infrastructure development to a functional regional electricity trading system.
WAPP Secretary-General, Abdoulaye Dia, highlighted the successful synchronisation of electricity networks across the 15 countries for four hours and five minutes in November 2025, with another test scheduled for November 2026 targeting 48 hours.
The Assembly, themed “Consolidating the Regional Electricity Market as a Lever of Transformation and Resilience for West Africa,” concluded with 17 Transmission System Operators signing an Inter-grid Operators Agreement to strengthen coordinated operations and cross-border electricity trading.
