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Energy News Network Industry news Regional Mercuria puts $250m behind Zambian generation and transmission through Exergy
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Mercuria puts $250m behind Zambian generation and transmission through Exergy

3rd October, 2026

Mercuria and Exergy signed a $250 million financing agreement in Lusaka on 25 September, covering generation and transmission projects run by two Exergy subsidiaries. It is among the largest private commitments made to Zambia’s power sector and the commodities group’s first move into the region’s electricity market.

Exergy and Mercuria signed a $250 million financing agreement in Lusaka on 25 September, directed at generation and transmission projects in Zambia and across Southern Africa.

Two Exergy subsidiaries hold the projects the money is intended for. Lunzua Power Company carries the generation side, while Lusitu Transmission and Distribution Company carries the network, including a transmission corridor intended to connect Zambia more firmly into regional markets. The companies have not disclosed how the $250 million is allocated between them, which projects receive it first, or the structure of the financing, and the agreement remains subject to regulatory approval.

Exergy’s third subsidiary already appears in the open access market, since Kanona Power Company trades electricity on ZESCO’s network under the Electricity (Open Access) Regulations introduced in 2024, alongside Africa GreenCo, Enterprise Power and Petrodex.

What makes the commitment unusual is who is making it, because Mercuria is one of the world’s largest independent energy and commodities traders rather than a development finance institution or an infrastructure fund, and this is its entry into the region’s power market at this scale.

Zambia’s installed capacity has risen from 3,100MW in 2021 to 4,576MW this year according to the Ministry of Energy, with solar going from 88MW to 841MW across the same period, against a government target of 10,000MW by 2031.

Copper sits underneath all of it. Zambia wants three million tonnes a year, roughly four times current output, and a trader whose business runs on commodity flows has now put capital behind the electricity those flows depend on.

Images: Energy Review Africa

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Charlotte Lamb
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