Electricity Industry Overview

Who We Are

Electricity Industry Overview

In 2018, the power sector had the same key players as in previous years – vertically integrated ZESCO, CEC, Maamba, Ndola Energy, Itezhi Tezhi, Kariba North Bank Extension and Lunsemfwa – and hydropower continued to be the dominant power generating source.

In a bid to diversify the mix of Zambia’s power generation sources, the Zambian Government is on a push to deploy more solar generating capacity, hence, the issuance of tenders under the IFC/World Bank’s Scaling Solar and the Government’s GET FiT Zambia programs. The intention of the Government is to add 600MW of solar to the country’s total installed generation capacity, which currently stands at about 2,893MW. From Round 1 of Scaling Solar, Neoen/First Solar and Enel Green Power were selected as preferred bidders to develop two solar PV plants of up to 50MW each. Tenders of up to 300MW were issued in the second round, from which 12 bidders have been prequalified.

Another 10 bidders have been shortlisted under GET FiT Zambia Round 1, which is looking to develop up to 100MW of solar PV. CEC, partnering with InnoVent SAS, is among those shortlisted. Towards the end of the year, the Government launched Round 2 of GET FiT Zambia, aimed at adding 100MW of small hydros to the grid. The GET FiT Zambia Small Hydros Tender is in line with the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFiT) Strategy and will support the development of small hydro projects of up to 20MW each of installed capacity. The Company is participating in these tenders as part of its strategy to diversify its sources of power and contribute to national energy supply.

According to projections, Zambia’s electricity demand will grow by an average of about 3% to reach approximately 4,000MW by the year 2040. Current national peak demand, estimated at 2,200MW, is sufficiently supplied by the present generating capacity. In addition, there are several generation projects at various stages of development which will augment current capacity and meet the expected demand in the medium to long term. Notable and most advanced among the projects indicated above are CEC’s Kabompo hydropower project and the Kafue Lower project led by ZESCO.

On the legislative and regulatory front, we continue to await the anticipated enactment of the new Electricity and Energy Regulation Acts and the finalisation of the CoSS by the ERB.