Hybrid power markets in Africa: Generation planning, procurement and contracting challenges

African power sectors are generally characterised by insufficient generation capacity. Reforms to address poor performances in the 1990s followed a prescribed evolution towards power markets that would allow wholesale competition amongst generators and so lead towards efficiency improvements. Despite reforms being embarked, competitive power markets have not been established in Africa; rather, the result has been the emergence of hybrid markets where state-owned generators and IPPs operate devoid of competition; and although IPPs have emerged in a number of African power sectors, many countries still do not have sufficient generation to meet their electricity demands. This paper investigates the development of private generation power projects in Africa by analysing data collected from both primary and secondary sources in four case studies of power sectors in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco and Tunisia. It identifies how planning and procurement challenges have lead to difficulties in adding sufficient generation capacity in a timely manner, exacerbating the problem of insufficient generation capacity in Africa. It provides suggestions as to how these frameworks could respond more effectively to the capacity challenges faced by hybrid electricity generation markets, and how broader power sector reforms should be guided to reflect the challenges of hybrid markets better. ► The standard model of power sector reform should no longer be used as a progress measure of power sector development in Africa and many other developing countries. ► The hybrid market should in itself be recognised as an established 'model' of power sectors in Africa and many developing countries. ► Planning, procurement and contracting arrangements should be shaped specifically for hybrid markets in order to address the problem of insufficient generation capacity in developing countries.