Zambia commissions Chinese-built solar plant

• Zambia on Wednesday commissioned a Chinese-built solar plant for the manufacturing of solar power as part of initiatives to boost the south African country's electrical energy generation capacity.

Zambia on Wednesday commissioned a solar plant for the production of solar energy as part of efforts to boost the south African country's electrical power generation capacity.

The Riverside Solar Plant in Kitwe town in the Copperbelt Province is a project of the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, a publicly listed firm that gives electricity to the country's mining industry.

The business, which initially commissioned its 1-MW project in 2018, signed a contract with Chinese construction company Sinohydro Corporation Limited for engineering as well as construction in November 2021 to boost the plant's power producing capacity to 34 MW with an annual energy output of 56.5 GWh.

The project involved the installment of more than 61,320 photovoltaic panels and the building and construction of 2 transmission lines. An overall of 22 million U.S. dollars were purchased the growth project.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema claimed during the commissioning of the plant that the investment was a huge success toward the country's objective of ending power cuts, known in your area as load shedding. According to him, the federal government plans to increase the nation's electrical energy creating capacity in order to sustain the requirements of markets.

The Zambian president emphasized that energy protection was vital to the nation because it drives sectors and also complimented the business for matching federal government efforts to boost power generation particularly for providing clean or environment-friendly energy.

London Mwafulilwa, the business's chairman, said the establishment of the pilot solar power project provided the company knowledge and also experience to endeavor right into expanding the project. While acknowledging that the plant was the firm's first sustainable project, the official said it was not the last as even more eco-friendly projects will be done.

It has been an important stepping stone, he stated, adding that it has enabled the firm personnel to obtain knowledge in creating as well as taking care of solar plants.

Peter Kapala, the preacher of Energy, said the commissioning of the solar plant was a significant milestone in the nation's energy sector. The government places wonderful emphasis on the development of the energy market because it was important to the country's financial growth, he claimed.

According to him, the federal government was committed to ensuring that the energy sector was tilted toward the supply of different energy sources, adding that the federal government will certainly deliver affordable and clean energy via the implementation of an ambitious renewable energy investment strategy.