Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema recently announced that the Open Access Regime was on the government’s to-do list to assist in boosting investment. The president made the announcement in Parliament in Lusaka, Zambia, where he delivered a speech titled “State of the Nation.”
The announcement provided some encouraging news for the energy industry and private actors in particular. President Hichilema stated that private sector actors will be able to deliver power to their clients and prevent ZESCO from getting into unsustainable power purchase deals.
“To promote competition and allow for non-discriminatory access to electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure by the private sector, the Government is in the process of implementing an Open Access Regime.”
Notably, until recently, electricity supply has never been considered a problem in official discourse in Zambia. When there was not enough electricity to serve all consumers in 2015, this situation changed. Cuts and rationing have occurred since.
Zambia is renowned for having an abundance of waterways and enormous natural resources, and it has long relied on hydropower as the main source of its electricity production. Its centralized model, though, has recently fallen short of the nation’s rising energy needs.
The government’s proposed strategy could be crucial in meeting the country’s expanding energy needs. the act of granting unlimited access to the transmission and distribution network for electricity. As a framework for promoting competition in the electrical market and allowing customers to select their suppliers, an open-access method has been proposed.
The national utility ZESCO was praised by President Hichilema for signing several Power Purchase Agreements. ZESCO continues to be a crucial component of the success of open access since it was instrumental in allowing firms like GreenCo to enter the market, participate as a new buyer and trader in the renewable energy sector, and join the Southern African Power Pool as its 18th member.
The Ilute Solar PV project in Western Province, Zambia’s first open-access project, is being implemented thanks to GreenCo’s partnership with ZESCO.
The Illute Project will be the first of its kind in Africa. Ilute will pay ZESCO for its system operation services while selling all the generated power to GreenCo. Leading investors will contribute $40 million in foreign direct investment to the project’s construction, demonstrating their support for the open-access electricity regime in Zambia.
