System Planning Test SPLAT Models for Africa

System Planning Test (SPLAT) capacity expansion models are a key component and product of IRENA’s support to African countries. Built using the MESSAGE software, these models cover detailed representation of power system capacity expansion in countries across the five African power pools. The SPLAT-MESSAGE framework has been endorsed as the official planning tool for the development of the African Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP), an initiative led by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and supported by IRENA as official modelling partner. This IRENA report describes the methodology and design of the SPLAT-CMP model, the modelling framework eventually finalized for electricity and transmission capacity expansion optimization in CMP.

The IRENA SPLAT models are uniquely calibrated to represent national supply structures and regional interconnections, and they allow national energy planners to assess a wide range of least-cost supply scenarios. These models are built on IRENA’s state of the art knowledge on renewable technologies featured in various databases and analyses, including cost data, resource potentials and renewable zones. These were recently augmented with the newly developed African Renewable Electricity Profiles (AfREP) for Energy Modelling Databases on Hydropower, Solar PV & Wind (forthcoming). SPLAT models have been systematically calibrated to reflect realistic local power market conditions, benefiting especially from the outcomes of several of IRENA’s capacity building activities conducted with national energy planning practitioners. The agency has also developed user-friendly data sheets and interfaces for initial development and ongoing enhancements of these models.

The SPLAT models are developed primarily to provide a robust starting point for IRENA’s capacity building programmes on energy planning. IRENA conducts these training programmes at regional and national levels. The trainings focus on the development and application of calibrated SPLAT models for defining and undertaking energy planning scenarios, as well as developing national energy masterplan documents.

SPLAT models have also been used to carry out regional analyses covering different Africa regional power pools. Results from these model-based analyses have contributed to IRENA’s Planning and Prospects for Renewable Power report series.

Results of the past and the latest SPLAT model analyses can be accessed and visualized through an interactive web based dashboard. Interested stakeholders can also freely access the model files underlying the analyses by filling this request form.