Vote of thanks by CEC Managing Director, Owen Silavwe, to the President of The Republic of Zambia on the commissioning of CEC’s 33MW Riverside Solar PV Plant

DELIVERED BY THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION PLC, MR. OWEN SILAVWE, ON THE COMMISSIONING OF THE 34MW RIVERSIDE SOLAR PV POWER PLANT
WEDNESDAY, 15TH FEBRUARY 2023

Mr. President, I’m honoured and humbled, that you have allowed us to host you at CEC today. And I speak on behalf of the Board and employee populace when I say that having you commission this 33MW Solar PV power plant, into which much skill and financial resources have been invested, makes the reward that much more fulfilling.

Over the last five years, CEC set itself on a path to increase its contribution to Zambia’s power production capacity. We set our sights on developing various resources and technologies that reflect sustainability principles. The solar plant you have commissioned, Sir, is only but the beginning of the realization of that dream. We remain desirous and ambitious to do more. We want to thank you Mr President for your commitment to improve the business environment and enable greater private sector investment in our country. Because of you and the principle you stand for, we are encouraged to, and you will see us do more for our country and its economy.

Mr President, allow me to take this opportunity to, once again, share CEC’s commitment to partner and work with the Government in actualizing an energy sector that not only fully serves the needs of the Zambian people but more importantly successfully plays its role in enabling social-economic growth and development, and wealth creation in ways that make the sector one of the major contributors to our gross domestic product (GDP) and employment creation. As you have clearly stated on many occasions, Mr. President, Zambia can and should become the hub for regional power trade. Our energy resources should earn us a lot more of the much-needed foreign exchange and help power employment of more of our youths across various value chains.

Equally important, Mr. President is the value to academic learning, research and skills development that this solar plant will engender. From our pilot solar PV project, we have experienced notable enhancements in human capacity both amongst our own staff and students from the Copperbelt University. With a bigger plant like this one, we are not only supporting the expansion of generation capacity but more importantly, we are enabling further development of the much-required human capacity and skills to develop and operate future renewable energy projects that will be built at much larger scale. It may interest you to know, Mr. President, that 10 students from CBU were involved during the construction phase of this project. There is no better way to provide practical skills to our learners than that. We remain committed to continue partnering with our academia in expanding human capacity in our country.

In closing, Mr. President, I wish for you to go away from here certain in the knowledge that CEC is a partner beyond energy. One of our commitments is to develop and grow with communities and local businesses. We continue to partner with the government in not only providing social services but also in creating opportunities for social-economic development and self-actualization of the citizens of this country.

We fully understand the hunger of your government for Zambia to do well and exceedingly so, and have committed to fully playing our part in the realization that vision.

Thank you very much, once more, Mr President, for the honour of your presence here today and for your unwavering support for the wider private sector participation in our economy.

I thank you.