Over three days in Addis Ababa this June, more than 60 representatives from 35 African institutions gathered around a map with a radical idea: what if the continent's electricity systems could operate as one integrated market instead of 54 isolated ones? That workshop, held from 3 to 5 June 2026 at African Union headquarters, was less about dreaming and more about delivering — converting a decade of EU-AU strategy into what officials are calling "continental delivery" on Africa's electricity future.
The need is urgent and staggering. More than 600 million Africans still lack electricity access, yet demand is expected to triple by 2040. Africa's electricity generation capacity will need to expand from today's 266 gigawatts to over 1,218 gigawatts by 2040, with renewables climbing from roughly a quarter of the mix to nearly two-thirds. That transition requires an estimated $1.3 trillion in investment — money that won't materialize without the technical, regulatory and planning foundations that this Addis Ababa workshop was designed to validate.
The participants didn't gather to talk concepts. They reviewed and endorsed a comprehensive package of strategic studies, technical frameworks and operational tools that will accelerate implementation of the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) and the Continental Power System Master Plan (CMP) — two flagship initiatives under the African Union's Agenda 2063. The workshop specifically examined progress on establishing the AfSEM High-Level Technical Oversight Committee and reviewed decisions from the African Union's Specialized Technical Committee on energy infrastructure, identifying priority actions for regulatory harmonization, institutional readiness and regional market development.
What makes this moment significant is the shift in approach. From 2015 to 2025, the EU-AU partnership focused on designing and adopting strategies — the hard intellectual work of imagining an integrated continent. Now the work moves to the messy, essential phase of regional and national delivery. The Addis Ababa workshop converted what organizers call "shared analysis into a shared mandate for action."
The initiative sits within the EU's Global Gateway Africa–Europe Investment Package, which mobilizes up to €150 billion for green and digital development on the continent. The Continental Energy Programme in Africa (CEPA) serves as the EU's primary technical coordination vehicle, working alongside Germany's "Accelerating the Energy Transition in Africa" programme (ENGAGE) and the Africa–EU Energy Partnership. According to Gianluca Azzoni, Head of Policy and Cooperation at the EU Delegation to the African Union, the effort reflects what officials call "Team Europe in action."
The vision being endorsed is simple but transformative: "One Grid, One Market, One Vision" — an integrated, investment-ready African energy future. By validating the technical and regulatory foundations for cross-border electricity trading and infrastructure, the workshop helps unlock the investment needed to enhance energy access and security, support cross-border commerce, and accelerate renewable energy buildout at continental scale. For a continent where energy poverty remains a development ceiling and climate resilience is increasingly urgent, the shift from strategic planning to operational implementation represents a threshold moment.
The African Union and European Union, through CEPA and broader Team Europe coordination, have committed to continuing implementation support through ENGAGE, the AEEP and related mechanisms — all working toward the shared continental ambition of tripling renewable capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030.