Country and Regional Projects in Africa

NLR collaborates with international governments, industry, and research institutions in Africa to accelerate innovation, build capacity, and expand opportunities for economic and energy system development.

In addition to the country projects below, NLR supports several regional programs that foster cross-country technical collaboration on grid modernization, microgrids and energy storage, power system planning, and energy investment mobilization. These activities engage practitioners from more than 23 African countries.

Chad

NLR worked with utility and ministry partners in Chad to address power shortages in N'Djamena by developing a local resilient and secure energy plan for the N’Djamena grid.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

NLR is working with critical minerals mining and processing partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to strengthen critical mineral supply chain pathways for U.S. off-takers. This work includes working with artisanal and small-holder mines to strengthen aggregation pathways, materials standards and verification, off-take agreement development with U.S. mid-stream buyers and more. NLR is also working on characterizing and development opportunities for secondary mineral recovery from mine and e-waste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Egypt

NLR, in collaboration with other U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, supported Egypt in establishing an in-house energy modeling unit, evaluated options to improve power system reliability, and enhanced regional knowledge exchange and peer-learning programs.

Ghana

NLR partnered with the Government of Ghana and other energy institutions to implement strategies for planning and operating a power system that can meet increasing demand. Specific activities included analysis and modeling support of large-scale storage and hybrid systems, grid code assessments, and capacity building to understand grid impacts of on-site generation deployment.

Kenya

NLR is supporting the Government of Kenya in evaluating and developing nuclear and geothermal energy technologies to meet Kenya's growing industrial energy demand. NLR also supports pilot efforts in Kenya to overcome barriers to private capital flow and mobilize investments in energy sector development priorities.

Malawi

NLR worked with Malawi's national utility, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, to deploy and operate a 20-MW battery energy storage pilot project outside of the capital of Lilongwe and supported integration and control tuning for the new Malawi-Mozambique regional interconnection. These projects are the first of its kind for both Malawi and the region and will allow Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi to address frequency and voltage variations and enhance overall power system reliability.

NLR is also building on its battery energy storage work in Malawi and Nigeria to provide a platform for in-depth training and technical collaboration to support battery energy storage scale-up and replication across the region.

Morocco

NLR is teaming with Morocco to support technical grid integration studies, capacity building, and evaluation of pathways and policies for achieving its energy goals.

Nigeria

NLR and other national laboratory partners are working with Nigerian utilities, oil and gas operators, and government agencies to increase affordability and reliability of the country's energy system. These activities include the development of automated tools for distribution utilities to assess impacts of new generation and grid technologies; piloting distributed energy resource projects with local utilities to reduce costs and enhance system reliability; and providing in-depth training on battery energy storage solution planning, procurement, and integration.

South Africa

NLR worked with Eskom, South Africa's power system operator, and the South African government to improve power system integration and infrastructure. Efforts include modeling electricity investment pathways, assessing transmission buildout impacts, and supporting municipalities with resource planning and grid operations.

Through the Global Power System Transformation Consortium, NLR and Eskom developed an open-source tool for real-time inertia monitoring and worked to strengthen Eskom’s power system contingency planning. NLR also fostered knowledge exchange through on-campus study tours and technical conferences.

NLR also collaborated with the Southern African Power Pool on regulatory reforms to enhance regional energy accessibility and reliability.

Tanzania

NLR advised Tanzania on microgrid standards and business models and develops curricula for off-grid solar PV installer training. NLR also assisted with integrating energy generation technologies onto the nation's grid through technical analysis, power system modeling tools, and capacity building for forecasting, system operations, and flexibility assessments.

Togo

NLR provided in-depth training to utility and ministry partners in Togo and other regional West African Power Pool partners on energy storage system planning, development and integration. This virtual and in-person training builds on energy storage training work in Malawi, Nigeria and elsewhere, and is serving as a foundational resource for the new regional Battery Energy Storage System center of excellence.

Tunisia

NLR and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory worked with Tunisia on using open-source tools to evaluate the grid impacts of distributed energy resources, such as battery storage and electric vehicles. Efforts also included advancing energy efficiency through updated air conditioner standards, assessing building energy performance, and developing financing solutions for energy retrofits.