Zambia is potentially self-sufficient in sources of electricity, coal,
biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
and
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
. The only energy source where the country is not self-sufficient is petroleum energy. Many of the sources of energy where the country is self-sufficient are largely unexploited. As of 2017, the country's electricity generating capacity stood at 1,901 megawatts.
Overview
, it was estimated that 28 percent of
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
's population had access to electricity, with 62 percent of the
urban population
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
and 5 percent of the rural population having access. At that time, about 500,000 urban households and approximately 1.8 million rural households did not have access to electricity. It is estimated that electricity demand in the country is growing at about 3 percent annually.
There are three power producing and distribution companies in Zambia; (a)
Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited
ZESCO (acronym for Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited) is a state-owned power company in Zambia. It is Zambia's largest power company producing about 80% of the electricity consumed in the country. ZESCO represents Zambia in the So ...
(ZESCO), a government-owned company (b) Lunsemfwa Hydro Power Limited and (c) Ndola Energy.
ZESCO
ZESCO (acronym for Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited) is a state-owned power company in Zambia. It is Zambia's largest power company producing about 80% of the electricity consumed in the country. ZESCO represents Zambia in the So ...
, the largest of the three owns and maintains 94.7 percent (2306/2434) of installed
hydropower
Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
capacity, as of 2016.
Hydroelectricity
As of 2022, the country had of installed hydropower capacity against a peak national demand of , resulting in a surplus of 1000MW which is exported to the Central and Southern African region. Zambia has an estimated of untapped hydropower potential. Hydroelectricity constitutes 90 percent of Zambia's electricity generation pool. Several existing large hydro facilities are currently being upgraded. Some of the new large hydropower projects in the pipeline include the 2,400 megawatts Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station and the 1,000 megawatts Luapula Hydroelectric Power Station. Substantial untapped hydropower potential exists for small scale rural electrification projects.
Thermal power
There are three grid-ready
thermal power
A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary ...
stations. The
heavy fuel oil
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...
plant owned by Ndola Energy, the six
gas turbines
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
with combined capacity of owned by the
Copperbelt Energy Corporation
Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC) is a Zambian electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply company with operations in Zambia and Nigeria. The company is listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (symbol: CECZ)
Operations
Zambia ...
and the Maamba Coal power plant with a capacity of .
Zambia has proven coal reserves of at least 80,000,000 tonnes in the country's Southern Province. Potential reserves exist elsewhere in the county, although the size of that potential has not yet been quantified.
Oil and natural gas
Although Zambia has no proven commercial deposits of oil, the country hosts an oil refinery, the '' Indeni Petroleum Refinery'', a 24,000
barrels
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
-a-day facility, based in
Ndola
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...
, in the
Copperbelt Province
Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immed ...
.
Renewable energy
Zambia has a diversity of potential sources of renewable energy, such as its abundant water resources for hydropower generation. Renewable energy development in the country is supported by a renewable energy strategy and a national climate change response strategy that promote low emissions, as well as the implementation of
sustainable land management Sustainable land management (SLM) refers to practices and technologies that aim to integrate the management of land, water, and other environmental resources to meet human needs while ensuring long-term sustainability, ecosystem services, biodiv ...
practices.
Hydropower accounts for 85 percent of the country's total installed capacity, while there is a potential to increase production from wind and photovoltaic energy systems.
As of April 2016, the peak electricity demand outstripped peak energy production by 560 megawatts. The government, ZESCO,
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.geothermal spaces to meet the deficit and to plan for future energy needs.
A 54MW solar plant opened in 2019 two years after signing the contract, at a non-indexed cost of US$0.06/kWh for 25 years.
As the percentage of people with access to electricity remains small, the use of solar energy has become increasingly common.
Zambia has significant potential for
floating solar
Floating solar or floating photovoltaics (FPV), sometimes called floatovoltaics, is solar panels mounted on a structure that floats on a body of water, typically a reservoir or a lake.
The market for this renewable energy technology has grown rap ...
on its reservoirs, primarily
Lake Kariba
Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir (water), reservoir by List of lakes by volume, volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and ...
Economy of Zambia
Zambia is a developing country and it achieved middle-income status in 2011. Through the first decade of the 21st century, the economy of Zambia was one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and its capital, Lusaka the fastest growing city i ...