Electricity has become the highest non-agro export for Zambia, with contracts with Namibia and Zimbabwe raking in $50m and K75.6m per year respectively.
Lusaka, April 19 – The installed power generation capacity in Zambia now stands at 3.6GW against a peak national demand of about 2.3GW following the construction of the Kafue Gorge Lower power plant by the previous regime.
For a country that has struggled with load shedding, it’s very strange that President Hichilema’s recent activities in the energy sector have literally gone unnoticed, drawing very little attention even from the 4th Estate.
On 3rd April this year, ZESCO signed a Power-Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Integrated Clean Energy Power Company Ltd (CiEG) of China to produce a gigantic 2.4GW of renewable energy over a 3-year period estimated at US$3.5bn.
The good news came at the back of an earlier investment pledge of US$2.5bn in 2GW of energy by MASDAR from the United Arab Emirates.
Also Read: ZESCO signs a 2.4GW PPA with CiEG of China.
What this means is that by the time President Hichilema is completing his first term of office, Zambia would have added more than 50% of today’s installed power generation capacity.
This should have been news but in a country with a toxic political system that prioritizes politics of self preservation over that of development, acknowledging this milestone would be equivalent to political suicide among opposition inclined media houses, who are in the majority.
But this once again goes on to expose the weakness in the new dawn government’s information desk which seems to be obsessed with what the Patriotic Front is doing instead of communicating policy formulation and implementation by the Government.
Politics is about giving hope but with poor communication, it’s almost impossible to offer hope especially at a time like now when the Government appears to lack direction on several issues of national interest. And the duplication of roles is not helping which has brought confusion as to who is effectively the Government Spokesperson.
Also Read: UPND and its baffling performance! – Chishala Kateka.
Without subtracting anything from former President Edgar Lungu, one can objectively state that the energy sector has entered a new phase in which its focus is no longer to only achieve energy sufficiency for the domestic economy but to purposely achieve energy surplus to enable the energy sector to support the export diversification policy to enhance foreign currency earnings.
According to the Energy Minister, Hon. Eng. Peter Chibwe Kapala, electricity has become the highest non-agro export for Zambia.
“For example, in March 2022, Zambia made electricity exports of about $18m,” he said, further stating that ZESCO has contracts to supply power to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and the DRC totalling 430MW.
The current 100MW contract with Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) earns Zambia almost $76m a year. ZESCO’s PPA with CiEG of China positions Zambia for a potential annual forex income of $1.8bn, more than the IMF package that has even been spread over three years.
ZESCO, without doubt, is poised to be Zambia’s cash cow in terms of forex earnings if President Hichilema can see through his strong resolve to achieve energy surplus to enable increased exports as part of promoting export diversification and enhanced foreign currency earnings.
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