ZESCO Limited Managing Director Victor Mapani says the utility company has embarked on an ambitious programme to position itself as a major power trading utility in the sub-region and beyond.

Meanwhile, Zesco has signed another power supply agreement with Nambia’s NamPower Limited for the supply of an additional 80 megawatts on the already existing 100 megawatts power supply agreement.

At the signing ceremony, Tuesday, Mapani said Zesco continued to invest in generation infrastructure so as to meet today’s needs without sacrificing the needs of the future.

“Being an operating member of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) creates a great opportunity for Zesco to play a major role in trade in the regional power markets. Zesco has embarked on an ambitious programme to position itself as a major power trading utility in the sub-region and beyond, through expansion and upgrading of transmission lines across the country to ensure stable supply for the local market and creating interface points with other utilities around the region. We are equally cognizant of the growing demand for electricity in the country and the region. In light of this, we continue to invest in generation infrastructure so as to meet today’s needs without sacrificing the needs of the future,” he said.

He, on behalf of Zesco, committed to providing NamPower with quality and excellent services.

“We also commit to provide you with quality and excellent services. Today we are meeting because of our shared goals of serving our people. And one way to serve our people is to provide electricity. Electricity is the nerve center of development. It changes communities, cities, and countries. It drives development. All aspects of our lives depend on electricity; agriculture, mining, health, tourism, Small to Medium Businesses, water supply, among other factors. It is not an exaggeration to state that electricity generates life. It grows industries. It produces food. It heals nations. In short, electricity nurtures life,” Mapani said.

“Today, we meet to explore and realize our shared vision of developing our countries. One way to develop our countries is to provide electricity which is critical to mitigating the binding constraints to inclusive economic growth. As a concrete expression of our enduring relationship, today, we are signing a Power Supply Agreement between Zesco Limited and NAMPOWER for the supply of 80 megawatts to NAMPOWER. This signing ceremony is important as it is symptomatic of a robust and mutually beneficial relationship. NAMPOWER has demonstrated to be one of our stable and reliable customers. We are happy that you see us as one of your preferred suppliers of electricity”

The 10-year power supply agreement which will see Zesco supplying an additional 80 megawatts to Namibia through NamPower will see Zesco making about $50 million in profit per annum.

And speaking at the same event, NamPower Managing director Kahenge Haulofu described the already existing power supply agreement with Zesco as successful.

“It was not long ago [that] we signed the supply agreement to NamPower Limited and that agreement has been working very well for Namibia. As if that was not enough, we contemplated getting into a new agreement which is over and above the existing agreement. The first agreement was for a 100 megawatt which we signed in 2020 and today we are once more here again to sign an 80 megawatt in addition to 100 megawatts from ZESCO. This speaks to the relationship that we have molded together over the years as NamPower and ZESCO. This also speaks to the historical ties between our people and the Zambian people,” he said.

Haulofu invited Zesco to use the shared power lines between the two countries to conduct business with other nations.

“If you look back again in history, you have seen how we rolled out transmission infrastructure where we built what is called Zambezi ring which linked our two systems together and that project alone was a huge milestone in the relationship that we have. And today we are enjoying the power transfer through that line and also at this point I would also invite ZESCO to make use of the extra capacity that is available on that line especially when there is any need to do any other business with any Southern neighbours on the South of Zambia through the ring, be it ESKOM South Africa, be it Botswana or whoever. Available capacity is on that line and ZESCO is equally free to do trading or any other bilateral agreement with Nampower to utilize that infrastructure,” said Haulofu.