HARARE, June 30 — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is working toward increasing power generation and transmission to become energy self-sufficient by 2027, a senior SADC official said Monday.
Speaking at a gathering of senior officials from SADC member states responsible for energy and water in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, Angele Makombo N’tumba, SADC deputy executive secretary for regional integration, said that as of May this year, the region’s installed generation capacity stood at 85,221 megawatts (MW), with a shortfall of 792 MW.
She said only four member states, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania, have excess capacity, but the full potential of the surplus is constrained by limited transmission interconnections, which impede the ability to transfer power to neighboring member states in need.
“Looking ahead, the implementation of committed generation projects across the region is expected to add over 28,000 MW between 2025 and 2027, with the aim of achieving power supply adequacy by 2027,” N’tumba said.
Gloria Magombo, permanent secretary in the Zimbabwean Ministry of Energy and Power Development, said the region is facing a triple crisis of rapid population growth, escalating impacts of climate change, and rising water and energy demand.
“It demands a unified, regional, and continental response,” she said, calling on the region to strengthen collaboration in further developing energy mineral value chains to accelerate regional industrialization and economic growth.
The SADC is a 16-member regional bloc comprising Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
