The West African Power Pool (WAPP) was created by Decision A/DEC.5/12/99 during the 22 nd Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Governement in order to address the issue of power supply deficiency within West Africa .

The West African Power Pool was guided by a Steering Committee comprising Energy Ministers of ECOWAS Member States, supported by a Project Implementation Committee, comprising Managing Directors of Members States utilities and Technical and Institutional Working Groups.

The 29 th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS Member States held in Niamey January 2006, adopted the Articles of Agreement establishing the new WAPP Organisation by Decision A/DEC.18/01/06 on 12 January 2006.

The same meeting granted the status of a Specialised Institution of ECOWAS to WAPP, by Decision A/DEC.20/01/06.

The Articles of Agreement was officially signed at the first Inaugural General Assembly Meeting, held in Cotonou on the 6 th July 2006.

On the 5 th July 2006, the Headquarters Agreement between the Republic of Benin and WAPP Secretariat was signed. WAPP Secretariat is temporarily located in the premises of CEB in Cotonou , Republic of Benin .

The vision of WAPP Organization is to integrate the national power system operations into a unified regional electricity market - with the expectation that such mechanism would, over the medium to long-term, assure the citizens of ECOWAS Member States a stable and reliable electricity supply at affordable costs. This will create a level playing field facilitating the balanced development of diverse energy resources of ECOWAS Member States for their collective economic benefit, through long-term energy sector cooperation, unimpeded energy transit and increasing cross-border electricity trade.

The WAPP Secretariat has the mission to ensure:

•  the full and effective implementation of the WAPP Priority Projects;

•  the development and approval of clear, measurable standards to harmonize electricity planning and operation of pooled electric systems in ECOWAS Member States;

•  the effective programming for enforcing compliance with mandatory standards;

•  the improvement in cross-border and reliable flows of electricity in ECOWAS Member States among electric system operating organizations; and

•  the effective communication and information sharing.

The following objectives have been assigned to the WAPP:

•  Formalise an official and extended collaboration in the region in order to develop power generation and transmission facilities, thus enhancing power supply and strengthening power security within the sub-region;

•  Improve the reliability of power system and quality of power supply in the region as a whole ;

•  Minimise operating cost of networks ;

•  Increase investments needed for power grid expansion in the region, with emphasis on the implementation of cross-border projects ;

•  Create an attractive environment for investments in order to facilitate the funding of power generation and transmission facilities;

•  Create a common operating standards and rules in the sector ;

•  Create a transparent and reliable mechanism for the swift settlement of power trade transactions ;

•  Increase the overall level of power supply in the region, through the implementation of priority generation and transmission projects that will serve as foundation for economic development and the extension of cheaper electricity supply to a greater number of consumers

  The governing structure of WAPP is:

•  the General Assembly

•  the Executive Board

•  the Organisational Committees

•  the WAPP General Secretariat, including the Information Coordination Centre and the Planning, Investment Programming and Environmental Safeguards Department.