HARARE, Nov. 13 — Zambian Minister of Energy Makozo Chikote on Thursday hailed Chinese investments in Zambia’s energy sector for helping the country address power deficit.
On the sidelines of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Business Forum in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, Chikote said that Zambia will soon address its power deficit through increased collaboration with China, particularly in the renewable energy sector.
“We have put open access, which has led us to have good partnerships with China. Zambia has just been dependent on hydropower, but due to climate change effects, we learnt some lessons from that and we decided to start exploring other alternative sources of energy, and one of them is solar, and we have found China as a true partner in that field,” Chikote told Xinhua.
He said Zambia is seeking to leverage China’s expertise and technology to boost the country’s renewable energy supplies. “As we are talking now, most of the solar plants that are in the pipeline are being spearheaded by China because of their innovation in the energy sector and the partnership is moving very well,” Chikote said.
Chikote added that a number of Chinese companies are working effectively to respond to Zambia’s energy challenges. “We are facing a power deficit and from the roadmap that has been made and the partnership that we are having with China, we see Zambia looking behind and say power cuts are a thing of the past,” Chikote said. (Xinhua)
