Enpower Trading has obtained conditional market participant membership from the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), becoming the first private company incorporated in South Africa to do so. The membership provides the company with approval to participate directly in SAPP’s regional trading platforms.
According to Enpower Trading, the membership will enable it to conduct cross-border electricity transactions, including imports and exports, through SAPP’s bilateral and day-ahead market mechanisms. The company stated this development increases the options available to commercial and industrial customers seeking access to alternative regional power sources.
“This is a landmark moment for Enpower Trading and for the evolution of South Africa’s power market,” said CEO James Beatty. “It positions us among a very small group of entities granted approval to participate directly in regional power trading.”
Beatty said the membership supports its platform for aggregating renewable generation, battery storage and import and export capacity. He noted that the approval is one step in a broader process to expand private-sector participation within regional power markets.
According to Beatty, the membership aligns with efforts to improve intra-African electricity trade, which he described as limited by “fragmented policies, infrastructure bottlenecks and high transaction costs”. He added that access to SAPP’s competitive trading environment could assist in reducing some of these constraints.
Enpower’s final transition from conditional to full market participant membership will take place once it completes a systems operation agreement with the National Transmission Company South Africa. It expects to participate in bilateral and day-ahead markets once full membership is granted. SAPP currently includes 12 member countries across Southern Africa.
