Lesotho is making further headway in preparations to expand its power trading. The country’s public utility, The Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC), recently held an information dissemination workshop for the establishment of a Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) trading office in Lesotho. The workshop was supported by GET.transform in the context of the the EU-funded initiative Renewable Lesotho and facilitated by Bredesen Consulting with participants from LEC’s senior management.
With more options for cross-border electricity trading, Lesotho can boost its power system as it unlocks new opportunities. On a commercial level, it can spur new investment and on a technical level, it provides new means for balancing and thus stabilising the power grid.
The participants discussed different types of markets, frameworks and forecasting as well as strategies and approaches for the operational efficiency of the SAPP Trading Office. The impact of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) was explored with reference to the Modified Single Buyer (MSB) model from Namibia.
In partnership with GET.transform, LEC will further develop detailed processes for the trading office, onboard a short-term trading tool and define the future trading and forecasting system support.