Policy & Regulations

POLICY & REGULATORY
Framework

GEAR will provide free technical assistance to governments, standard making bodies, utilities and other strategic stakeholders to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment.
Adoption of the IEC 60076 series as testing standard

All stakeholders including utilities and manufacturers agree that IEC 60076-1 is the most appropriate standard to be used to measure the performance of DTs (using load and no-load losses testing as opposed to 50% load).

Adoption of IEC 60076-1 standard should be done across countries in a harmonized manner to avoid non-tariff barriers to trade.

Harmonization also provides economies-of-scale. A regional or continental approach for the adoption of the U4E Model Regulations Guidelines for DTs should be preferred, and such could be initiated under the auspices of the African Union, building on institutions such as the African Energy Commission, with support from the Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA).

Adoption of mandatory MEPS
Minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) are a critical element of the market transformation program. They mandate the minimum level of performance of equipment and appliances. A schedule for increase of the MEPS levels must also be adopted to accompany the market transformation to allow sufficient time for end-users and local manufacturers to cope with the impact of the regulations. Since all countries in Africa are not at the same stage of economic development, MEPS levels could vary from country to country. However, capacity-building efforts to support policy makers should be done in a regional format, and build on existing regional centers such as SACREEE, ECREEE, EACREEE.
Strengthen technical loss reduction objectives in grid codes

Grid codes are critical elements of the strategy to improve the efficiency of African grids, since they prescribe the level of efficiency and other technical criteria. The program will therefore work with African electricity regulators to: 1) Develop technical loss assessment and improvement targets as statutory requirements in grid codes and distribution contracts, imposing a default use of ‘total cost of ownership’ approaches wherever appropriate in line with IEC TS 60076-20 or its derivatives; and 2) Identify and replicate good practice wording of codes.