The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved an $8 million concessional loan to support the construction of a 25MW Ilute Solar Photovoltaic plant in Zambia.
- •The project, in Zambia‘s Sesheke District, is lead by Serengeti Energy Ltd. and Western Solar Ltd.
- •GreenCo Power Services Ltd will purchase the generated electricity through a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement and sell it to the Southern African Power Pool Day-Ahead Market.
- •The financing for the Ilute Plant will be sourced from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a multi-donor Special Fund managed by the Bank
“This loan addresses the financial challenges we’ve faced due to the pandemic and rising costs. The Ilute project is a testament to innovative collaboration and serves as a pioneering model for future renewable energy initiatives in Zambia as well as the wider region,” Anton-Louis Olivier, CEO of Serengeti Energy, said.
Zambia is currently one of the countries at the epicentre of US-China competition for the region’s raw materials, which are crucial for battery technology. It is part of the Lobito Corridor, in which the US has already pledged $4mn after hosting the signing of the deal in September.
The deal will see the Africa Finance Corporation connect railway lines in Angola and Zambia, connecting to the Cape to Cairo Railway, and most importantly, connecting Tenke in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the Atlantic Ocean.