… good for development Ambassador Anthony Mukwita
Berlin 10.04.19
Zambia is set to become a top provider of clean energy via solar in southern Africa, second only to South Africa.
This is as a consequence of a more than 100-megawatt power boost to the
grid in partnership with Development Bank of Germany known by its
acronym KFW said Zambia’s Ambassador to Germany His Excellency Anthony
Mukwita.
Mr Mukwita was citing a statement from the GET FIT
secretariat posted on their website this week which also reveals that
some six companies have been finally given a greenlight to independently
implement the solar power project asap.
The GET FiT Zambia project
initially targeted 100MW of solar energy output but has since ended up
with 156MW of peak installed capacity for Zambia.
“This will go a
long way in narrowing the energy deficit and further increase economic
production in various sectors such as agriculture because energy is key
to turning the economic wheels of our country,” said Ambassador Mukwita.
GET Fit secretariat cites KFW programme Manager Mr Marco Freitag
stating that the zeroing in on the final list of six companies worked
well for Zambia and ZESCO, the state power utility.
“The tender results are extra ordinarily favourable for the Zambian people and ZESCO,” said Mr Freitag.
Zambia is in the statement described as a “true market leader in Africa
when it comes to pursuing a clean energy development path.”
Zambia
becomes the second country to partner with Get Fit after Uganda with
KFW advising the government on how to proceed efficiently.
In 2016,
Zambia suffered a severe shortage of energy after water levels at Lake
Kariba dropped drastically as a consequence of Climate Change.
Zambia depends largely on hydro electricity and therefore suffers shortages in times of droughts.
President Edgar Lungu’s government instead of blaming weather patterns
opened the energy sector up and paved way for the gradual removal of
consumption energy subsidies.
The challenge now according to Get
FiT is to get the companies to sign Power Purchase Agreements and Inter
Governmental Agreements with ZESCO and the government of President
Lungu.
There is more good news, GET FiT Zambia has also started a
new tender on hydro electricity production to continue narrowing the
energy gap said Ambassador Mukwita.
“Zambia is definitely on the
right path regarding expanding the energy sector and making it kore
accessible to the larger community and KFW and Zambian entities ought to
be commended for this,” said the senior diplomat.
Zambia has a
power a power deficit of almost 2000 megawatts that need to be plugged
in order to optimise agriculture and mining activities, including
domestic ones such as running salons and barber shops said Ambassador
Mukwita.
With the various energy projects the government has
embarked upon, Zambia could be an energy giant in less than 10 years in
Sub Sahara Africa according to Ambassador Mukwita.
The Get FiT Zambia is currently worth about US$100 million.