Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema on Monday opened the country’s biggest grid-connected solar power plant, built by PowerChina, which will supply electricity to copper miner First Quantum Minerals.
The 100 megawatt Chisamba project is expected to reduce the Southern African country’s reliance on electricity imports from neighbours South Africa and Mozambique.
It will free up capacity for Zambian consumers that would have otherwise been used by First Quantum Minerals.
Zambia depends on hydropower for the bulk of its electricity generation needs, and low water levels because of a severe drought have forced state utility Zesco to ration electricity.
Hichilema said at a launch event that the drought highlighted the need to urgently diversify the power mix.
There are plans to add another 100 MW of capacity at the Chisamba site, although a timeframe for the expansion has not been laid out.
