On a quiet Friday afternoon, a distant rumbling sound from excavators easing their way through a field of trees partially announces to onlookers the coming of a 20MW Solar PV project in Lusaka’s Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) area.
Kiyona Energy Limited, a subsidiary of ZESCO, is at the heart of this development, aimed at accelerating President Hakainde Hichilema’s ambition to see Zambia achieve 1000MW of solar electricity.
“This is 20 hectares of land given to us by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Natural Resources Development College. We are hoping to finish the 20MW solar plant by February 2026,” says a calm and soften spoken Eng. Clement Siame, Chief Executive Officer of Kiyona.
ZESCO’s intention, through its subsidiary, is to ease citizens over reliance on hydroelectricity, which has proved risky as the country witnesses’ frequent droughts, with the most recent in 2024 resulting in the worst drought-induced electricity deficit.
This solar surge, therefore, is part of the government’s broader agenda to diversify the energy mix and address the current energy deficit.
“We must tap into all the resources that God has endowed us with. If there is a drought, we shouldn’t cry because there is a reason for a drought. You can see there is so much sunlight, which can be picked anywhere. So why shouldn’t we tap into this technology. This technology is a game-changer,” said Eng. Justin Loongo, the Managing Director of ZESCO when he recently toured the nearly complete Mansa 50MW solar project in Luapula Province.
Beyond the upcoming 20MW project in NRDC, which will primarily serve the communities of Mtendere, Kalikiliki, Roma, Kalingangalinga, Kanyama and others in the vicinity, Kiyona is shifting gears between Greening Cities, Greening Markets and Greening Homes through its innovative Electricity-as-a -Service offering.
Through this initiative, Kiyona is installing free solar equipment in homes. Homeowners only concern themselves with their normal electricity bill.
The excess electricity from each home solar system is fed to the grid to serve other customers.
The Greening Homes initiative, which has already taken flight in Lusaka’s Silverest and ZAF areas is targeting a minimum of 5MW of solar power at each location.
In Silverest, Kiyona expects to generate 3MW from the 600 homes in the community, which will also benefit the surrounding homes.
Kiyona will also install solar systems on 5,000 houses in Kwamwena before moving to Salama Park and Woodlands.
“This is one of Kiyona’s strategies of greening homes where we are offering energy as a service. We install the equipment at our cost then all the recipients do is pay the normal ZESCO bills,” said Eng. Siame.
“This strategy is aimed at tackling load shedding at load end. Load shedding is more painful at a household level. So, our strategy is to cure it at a household level. By curing as many houses as possible meaning we are weaning them off from load shedding.”
Kennedy Chisha, a Bank of Zambia retiree who now lectures at a private university and is a beneficiary of the Greening Homes initiative, could not hide his joy when Ms. Chama Nsabika, ZESCO’s Director Corporate Support Services visited his home.
“To be selected as a beneficiary of this initiative is truly an honour to our community. School going children now have the convenience to do schoolwork and study. In my case, I can work remotely, away from my principal client’s offices, uninhibited due to the availability of electricity.”
Kiyona is also targeting key and strategic institutions of power. The National Assembly is among the institutions targeted to act as an electricity generating stations with 1MW of electricity expected to be realised.
“At Parliament (National Assembly), we have installed a solar plant that is big enough to also feed the surrounding environment. Parliament being a symbol of power for our Members of Parliament, we also want them to experience that electricity can be made anywhere,” he said.
While the National Assembly consumes 300 kilowatts of electricity, Kiyona’s intention is for the extra electricity to be used by the surrounding residential areas.
“With this size of the plant, it means that a number of houses from Olympia will be fed from Parliament and by so doing, we are reducing losses. This is our strategy and it will be implemented everywhere.”
By Desmond Katongo
.jpg)
0 Comments