Zimbabwe–Zambia Energy Projects Summit (ZimZam 2025) Is A Chance for Stakeholders To Take Action As Energy Crisis In Both Nations Persists.

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The 2nd edition of the Zimbabwe–Zambia Energy Projects Summit (ZimZam 2025) starts today, 26 November, and runs up until Friday, 28 November, 2025. This year’s edition will be held in Livingstone, Zambia. This follows the inaugural event held last year in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The conference essentially brings together leading policymakers, investors, and energy developers. The organisers say that with the participation of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and headline support from Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) as Country Host, Petrodex as Summit Sponsor, and ZESCO and Standard Bank as Sponsors, the event will be one of the region’s foremost platforms for sustainable investment and regional cooperation. 

I attended last year’s edition in Victoria Falls. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it to this year’s edition. The energy situation in both countries (Zimbabwe and Zambia) has not improved since last year’s summit. In fact, one could argue that it has actually gotten worse in some cases. For example, most homes and businesses in Zimbabwe still face long power outages due to electricity rationing. On most days, the utility company switches off customers from about 5:00 am to 10:00 pm. This leaves most homes and businesses to rely on alternative power supplies if they can afford it. For most businesses, that means running expensive diesel generators. The persistent energy generation shortfall has also resulted in an increasing number of homes and businesses installing solar and battery storage to alleviate the effects of load shedding. This situation is probably worse in Zambia, with reports of homes and businesses getting electricity from the grid for only two hours a day at times. 

Generation shortfalls in both countries have been driven in part by low water levels at the 2GW Kariba dam, resulting in the custodians of the dam, the Zambezi River Authority, issuing strict water use guidelines. The Zimbabwe Power Company, ZPC, and ZESCO, on the Zambian side, have then had to curtail generation at both Kariba South and Kariba North power stations respectively. For example, at Kariba South, ZPC has been generating a maximum of around 500MW, from an installed capacity of 1,050MW at Kariba South. Depending on the water allocation, generation can even be capped to as low as 250 MW.

There was a recent Zimbabwe–Zambia business conference in Harare, and one would have thought, given the urgency around the power situation, that this would be higher up the agenda, but it wasn’t. Hopefully some serious work will be done at this Zimbabwe–Zambia Energy Projects Summit (ZimZam 2025) in Livingstone that will result in tangible initiatives and activities that will unlock new generation capacity in the immediate to medium term. Both governments will be represented at a high level and hope tangible action items are pursued immediately to address this energy crisis. The conference organisers say that the Honourable Makozo Chikote, Zambia’s Minister of Energy, will open the summit, reaffirming the country’s commitment to regional energy integration and public–private collaboration. ZESCO will present recent policy and regulatory reforms that have enhanced predictability and strengthened investor confidence. “Zambia’s evolving energy policy has fundamentally improved investor confidence,” said Justin Loongo, ZESCO Managing Director. “Through open access and predictable tariffs, we’ve created an environment where public and private partners can deliver real progress. Cooperation between ZESCO, investors, and financiers is transforming our grid into a regional power trading hub.”

The organisers add that the ZimZam 2025 will focus on financing the SADC Just Energy Transition Framework, strengthening interconnections, expanding renewable capacity, and fostering cross-border investment. All of this is very noble and most welcome, but it needs to be expedited to address the deepening energy crisis. With the severe nature of the energy crisis in both countries, one hopes to see more urgency around critical energy projects. Whilst there has been some progress in recent times in terms of adding new generation capacity in both countries — such as the the 750 MW Kafue Gorge Lower (KGL) hydro project that was being constructed at a cost of approximately $2.3 billion in Zambia, and the $1.5 billion 600 MW plants at Hwange in Zimbabwe, all completed within the past 3 years — a whole lot more new capacity is needed. The two countries have been planning the Batoka Gorge hydro project, also shared with neighboring Zambia. According to the Zambezi River Authority website, the project will have two underground power stations (one north bank and one south bank) with an installed capacity of 2,400 MW (2×1,200 MW). If it eventually does kick off, Zimbabwe and Zambia would each get an additional 1,200 MW of renewable energy capacity.

The Batoka Gorge project has been talked about for decades. There have been recent reports on the Batoka project where it was announced that Zambia and Zimbabwe had picked US based Synergy Consulting as the lead financial advisor for their planned US$4.5 billion Batoka Gorge hydropower dam project. The reports add that Synergy will assist with preparation of the request for proposals (RFPs), and shortlist potential bidders along with other services. Let’s hope this project finally takes off soon.

Perhaps the two countries can take a leaf from Ethiopia’s remarkable push for new capacity, such as Ethiopia recently commissioning the 5,150 MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The GERD will add another ~15,500 GWh of clean electricity to the country’s energy mix. Now that the GERD has been successfully completed, Ethiopia is also working on the 1,800 MW Koysha hydropower plant that is expected to generate around 6.4 GWh per year. It is already under construction and is set to be completed by 2029. This is the type of urgency needed to resolve the perennial electricity rationing problem in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Both countries are pushing hard to grow their economies, and in this push, industrialisation is one of the key pillars mentioned. For a real industrialisation push, the power supply situation needs urgent attention or else it will just become another buzzword. Both countries would need to also address transmission and distribution issues as well as continue to promote the adoption of distributed solar by homes and businesses. Both countries now allow net-metering so that those homes and businesses with excess capacity can now feed into the grid. The regulatory environment in both countries is pretty good. What is needed now is to really create environments for independent power producers to flourish and to also fast-track any joint projects between the two countries.