Inside WAPP’s framework for battery energy storage system integration

How to use batteries on a grid in a way that is socially responsible, environmentally sound and economically viable

In a decisive move toward an integrated energy future, the West African Power Pool (WAPP) is spearheading a project to deploy Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

Speaking with ESI Africa, Abdoulaye Dia, secretary general of WAPP, says this initiative reflects both a professional milestone and a regional turning point.

The importance of BESS is its capacity to provide services that are necessary for frequency regulation, voltage control, time-shifting of energy, reduction of congestion on transmission networks, black start capability and to minimise the negative impacts of variable renewable energy sources on the network while increasing their integration and benefiting from their potential positive impacts.

Thus, central to WAPP’s BESS initiative is the Regional Environmental Framework (REF), a robust guideline designed to ensure that every aspect of battery storage deployment in West Africa is socially responsible, environmentally sound, and economically viable. Developed collaboratively by WAPP, the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), and the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), the framework supports the development of a low-cost investment plan and regulatory framework for BESS deployment.

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