SURELY, President Hakainde Hichilema’s trip to China is not in vain as it is bearing good fruits, with another milestone attained in the road to ending load shedding.
Yesterday, Zesco and one of China’s largest power enterprise, Datang Corporation penned a collaborative framework agreement to develop solar energy projects across Zambia, marking this as the fourth deal clinched aimed at to addressing the current energy crisis.
As a way of supporting various economic activities, President Hichilema noted his Government is working towards attaining a power generation capacity of 10,000 megawatts.
Witnessing the signing ceremony held at the China Datang Corporation Dispatch Center, the President said Government was aware of the current economic activities which have been plagued by load shedding, hence his seeking for urgent interventions to address the challenge.
“We have some needs ourselves which we need to solve like power for households, off grid solutions and integrating the grid so that the rural part of our country can have access to power. Power that resembles justice and equity in terms of affordability for agriculture so that farmers can irrigate. We are working hard to put an end to load shedding until we all can smile and say it’s over which will in turn boost our economic outlook,” said President Hichilema.
“The current energy deficit is totally unacceptable. It’s time we joined hands in resolving it permanently. This is a difficult phase in our country and we are determined to reverse it as no situation is permanent and even this will pass as long as we remain focused and keep looking forward.”
And China Datang Corporation chairperson Zou Lei told President Hichilema that the corporation will deliver three solar projects to Zambia by 2026.
Zou pledged to assist Zambia in the development of solar, wind, coal-powered projects and power storage as his company has extensive experience in these areas.
“We will speed up stetting up solar projects with high standards and high efficiency to make sure that this project is done by the end of 2026. We have a lot of technology and a lot of practice and on this regard we will focus on developing the larger skill of solar and wind power and work together to improve the traditional hydro power,” he shared.
Zesco managing director Victor Mapani showed a sense of relief hoping that the company’s willingness to provide upfront financing and invest in power generation will bring smiles on the faces of the people of Zambia.
“In solar, they are willing to bring in their money upfront and hopefully we can actually start up with the 100 megawatts in the very near future. Some sites have been identified but they are yet to do their own feasibility and satisfy themselves on how they are going to go. We hope in the next two years they can do up to not less than 300 megawatts,” noted Mapani.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, September 7, 2024
