Zambia will require a total of US$ 14 billion worth of investment to meet the projected demand of electricity by 2040.
According to the Government Green Paper on the findings and recommendations of the 2021 Cost of Service Study (CoSS), seen by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, the investment is broken down as; $ 9.4 billion for generation, $ 2.7 billion for transmission and $ 1.9 billion for distribution.
The report reveals that Government has accepted the recommendation that additional investment, at as low a cost as possible is required to increase electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
It explained that the CoSS assumptions on the development of least cost plan have been overtaken by Government’s ambitions to implement an ambitious energy investment plan that takes into account effects of climate change and environmental impacts with the view to enhance energy security and increase access to affordable electricity services.
The results from the 30-year (2022-2052) Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for the electricity sector shows that to meet the projected demand of about 8,000MW by 2030, the country requires approximately US$10.78 billion of investments in generation, transmission and distribution.
The reported also revealed that Government will promote investments in electrification initiatives, including off-grid systems at an estimated cost of US$ 2.93 billion to achieve universal access.
It stated that further, Government will endeavour to create an enabling environment to attract investment from private sector and cooperating partners, including climate finance, in expansion of generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure in response to the envisaged growth in energy demand in the medium term.
