Zambia links deepen with energy tie-up

Energy and power have emerged as the most significant areas of collaboration between China and Zambia over the past few decades. They are playing an important role in promoting the economic development of both countries, a top company executive said on Wednesday.

Cooperation between China and Zambia has bright prospects, with energy and power playing a pivotal role, said Ding Yanzhang, chairman of Power Construction Corp of China, which is also known as PowerChina, during the Zambia Power Development Forum in Beijing on Wednesday.

"PowerChina is willing to leverage its integrated full-industry chain advantage in energy and power investment, construction and operations and help meet the power demand of Zambia's socioeconomic development," he said.

According to Ding, Zambia is one of PowerChina's core markets in Africa. Since entering the Zambian market in 1999, PowerChina has helped cooperation between the two sides to deepen and grow with continuous achievements.

Over the past 25 years, Power-China has completed 50 engineering projects in Zambia, including power stations with a total installed capacity of over 1,500 megawatts and more than 1,100 kilometers of power transmission and distribution lines, said Ding.

The Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station was put into operation last year. It now generates over 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, increasing Zambia's national power supply by about 38 percent, he said.

Located over the Kafue River about 90 km south of Lusaka, capital of Zambia, the station has substantially improved the country's power supply and played a key role in power regulation during peak power consumption periods.

Equipped with five mixed-flow generator units, it has a total installed capacity of 750 MW. An iconic project under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, it has also helped develop trade, transportation and mining industries during its construction phase.

Experts said the energy projects built by Chinese companies in Zambia have helped relieve power shortages in the country while providing technology and experiences to the region.

As a firm supporter of, and an important partner in, Africa's green transition, China has promoted substantial achievements in China-Africa energy cooperation in recent years, said Lu Junling, chief economist of National Energy Administration, during the forum.

China has helped its energy enterprises build power generation projects with a total installed capacity of 120 million kW since 2000 and 66,000 km of transmission and distribution lines in Africa, significantly improving the energy infrastructure of the African continent and laying a solid foundation for further green and low-carbon transition, he said.

Lu further said it is necessary to continuously improve energy utilization capacity in order to enhance Zambia's power supply capacity, while improving investment and financing capabilities to promote the development of the clean energy sector in the country.

In response to Zambia's current situation of power shortages and urgent need for energy sources, continuous efforts should also be made in technological solutions such as micro-grid photovoltaic and energy storage, he said.

China, as a leader in the green energy revolution, has become an important partner to Zambia and Africa's energy transition. Both China and Zambia have benefited from the former's support of the green energy field, said Johnstone Chikwanda, chairman of the Energy Institute of Zambia.

Significant progress on this particular goal will have to happen with the support of China, as that's where the technology, skills and more innovative financing will be coming from, he said.

Chen Guanfu, chairman of PowerChina International Group Ltd, said Zambia is a country with abundant natural resources and great potential for development, and PowerChina is willing to help increase local emergency power sources, optimize the power structure and improve the power grid to alleviate the power shortage.

The company has successively undertaken a series of power projects such as the Kariba North Hydropower Expansion Project and the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station, with its power projects accounting for 45 percent of Zambia's total installed capacity, he said during the forum.