GCF to provide funds for 100 MW of renewables in Zambia

About 100 MW of renewable energy projects in Zambia, mainly solar, will benefit from a USD-52.5-million (EUR 42.4m) financing package by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The financing consists of a USD-50-million loan and a grant of USD 2.5 million and will be provided to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the latter announced on Wednesday. It will come under AfDB’s first funding proposal in support of Zambia’s renewable energy financing framework.

The projects that will be financed by the GCF allocation will be developed under Zambia’s renewable energy feed-in tariff (REFiT) programme, under which the country aims to add 200 MW of small to medium-scale renewables in three years. Launched in October 2017, it targets projects with capacity of up to 20 MW.

Zambia is currently highly dependent on hydropower generation and has recently experienced serious power supply deficits due to droughts. Only a small part of the population there has access to electricity. The REFiT programme is expected to help it diversify its energy mix and make it more resilient to climate change, said Amadou Hott, vice president for power, energy, climate and green growth at ADB.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.808)

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