Guinea’s PM urges West Africa to prioritise power complementarity over isolation

Omeiza Bilal

Guinea’s Prime Minister, Amadou Oury Bah, has urged member states of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) to put regional electricity complementarity ahead of national isolation, as the 21st WAPP General Assembly opened in Conakry.

Bah, who represented President Mamadi Doumbouya, spoke at the opening of the two-day session, held on 6 and 7 November. 

He called on member states to build “a true West African energy community” founded on shared standards and performance.

He described energy as the foundation of a nation and a matter of sovereignty, competitiveness, social progress and stability. 

He cited the historic interconnection of the sub-region’s fifteen countries as proof of what collective action can achieve.

Bah pointed to Guinea’s Kaleta and Souapiti hydropower dams, and to planned projects at Koukoutamba, Sambangou and Amaria. 

He said these position Guinea to become a “regional electricity lung” able to supply the sub-region.

“The Republic of Guinea, under the leadership of His Excellency the President of the Republic, reaffirms its readiness to support this collective ambition and to contribute actively to the development of a more integrated, efficient, and united West African energy space,” he said.

Market launch

The Chairman of the WAPP Executive Board, Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, said the second phase of the regional electricity market will launch in early 2027. It will introduce a day-ahead market in which cross-border electricity prices are set by supply and demand under a transparent, non-discriminatory framework.

“This is not merely a technical development, it represents a fundamental step forward,” he said. He added that two decades of investment in transmission lines, common rules and institutions must now translate into a market that works in practice.

Abdulaziz said the transition will require market discipline, real-time data exchange, rigorous metering, trustworthy settlement arrangements, and congestion and risk management matched to traded volumes.

He said ongoing institutional reform will create an independent system and market operator, separating system operation from market operation to ensure fairness and shield decisions from undue external influence. 

He added that the change must be managed without disruption to the operational continuity provided by the Information and Coordination Centre.

On financial security, Abdulaziz said no market can thrive without trust. He pointed to the Liquidity Enhancement Revolving Fund, which is under study and structuring. 

“Statutory contributions are not an administrative formality; they are the foundation of our autonomy and our capacity to act,” he said, urging chief executives to treat payment as a personal priority.

Discipline and access

Guinea’s Minister of Energy, Laye Sékou Camara, said the session must be “a stage of decision and confidence” that gives clear guidelines and turns commitments into results. He said WAPP’s vitality depends on members honouring their commitments, including regular payment of statutory contributions.

Camara said strengthening national access and regional exchanges are complementary, and that installed capacity should not be confused with the ability to deliver power to consumers. He described interconnection as mutual insurance between states, noting that Guinea benefited from Senegal’s energy support after the December 2023 fire at the Coronthie depot.

He linked the regional ambition to Guinea’s Simandou 2040 programme and the goal of universal electricity access. He called for credible liquidity support mechanisms, respected common rules, stronger institutions and greater participation of women in the sector.

Synchronisation and tariffs

WAPP Secretary General Abdoulaye Dia described the synchronisation of the fifteen countries’ networks as a major milestone. 

They achieved four hours and five minutes of synchronisation on 8 November 2025. A test scheduled for November 2026, targeting 48 hours, is meant to consolidate that result and prepare for permanent synchronisation.

Dia said WAPP must “make interconnection an operational cooperation, a sustainable, structured and credible reality” so that electricity becomes a lever for economic and social transformation. 

He also pointed to progress on the regional tariff framework, including 2026 decisions by the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority on the transmission tariff methodology, tariff calculation procedure and market fee.

The session’s theme was “Consolidating the regional electricity market as a lever of transformation and resilience for West Africa.”

The Director General of Électricité de Guinée, El Hadji Gando Barry, said regional integration helps leverage resource complementarities and strengthens solidarity between national systems.

At the close of the session, seventeen Transmission System Operators from the Pool signed the Inter-grid Operators Agreement to enable operations through the grid.