Zambia

A five-year cooperative agreement is expected to spur economic development in rural Zambia through increased access to electricity.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the RES4Africa Foundation have released a series of country regulatory reviews. The report aims to support the crowding-in of scaled private sector investment in generation, networks and off-grid markets.

The AfDB says the Southern Africa economic outlook will probably rebound over the 2021 to 2022 period, provided the COVID-19 pandemic tapers off.

RES4Africa and PwC have released a new study Private Sector Participation in African Grid Development. The study identifies underfinancing, inefficiency and insufficient extension of electricity grids as the main obstacles to Africa’s access to energy.

Building on an analysis of experiences from Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, it is possible to draw lessons and recommendations to accelerate the deployment of geothermal energy for electricity generation and direct use.

Zimbabwe has been plagued with recent electricity troubles and in a bid to increase supply the country is in negotiations with Zambia and Mozambique. If agreed upon, the country will import an additional 280MW from the two countries.  

The Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA) and the Rural Electrification Authority of Zambia have signed a memorandum of understanding around promoting minigrids and decentralised utilities for rural electrification.

In Zambia, a local geothermal exploration company’s ongoing feasibility study has modelled an initial power capacity of 5-7MWe and a further capacity of about 10-12MWe at select sites.

The European Investment Bank and a grant by the German Development Bank, KfW, will be investing $310 million to the upgrading of sanitation in Zambia. This will all fall under the Lusaka Sanitation Programme.

The Rural Electrification Authority of Zambia and the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to monitor and support the country’s electrification efforts through data collection and analysis.