Assessing energy security within the electricity sector in the West African economic and monetary union: Inter-country performances and trends analysis with policy implications

This paper assesses the energy security performance of the electricity sectors of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) countries using Multiple-criteria Decision Analysis. First, it establishes a five-level framework incorporating the dimensions: availability and diversity; affordability and equality; efficiency and reliability; regulation and governance; and environmental sustainability to conceptualize energy security. 18 metrics characterizing these dimensions are then used to assess the energy security performance of the UEMOA countries during the 2010-2019 period. The results indicate that Cote d'Ivoire was the most secure country of the Union, followed by Senegal and Togo in 2019, while the worst-performing country was Niger. Furthermore, Mali, Benin and Niger were found to have regressed the most concerning energy security from 2010 to 2019, whereas Senegal had improved greatest, followed by Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. In addition, none of the countries were found to perform well in all the indicators of energy security. Therefore, common actions such as improving governance, increasing generation capacity with priority to renewable sources, improving energy efficiency, upgrading power systems and encouraging R&D and paying more attention to environmental concerns could enhance energy security throughout the electricity sectors of all the UEMOA countries.