Agenda 2026

Celebrating How Zambia and Zimbabwe are Unlocking FDI Through Connectivity, Credibility, and Cooperation.

We explore how Zambia and Zimbabwe have used market liberalisation to create an investment-friendly market for foreign investment.

• Connectivity: Which projects have reached financial close or come online over the past three years, and what lessons can be learnt from this success?
• Credibility: How has growing industrial demand created bankable opportunities for new power projects and offtake models?
• Cooperation: How can the public and private sectors work together to unlock the market’s remaining bottlenecks and accelerate capital inflows?

The region’s mining sector is scaling fast, along with rising demand for stable, cost-reflective power to hit national targets.

• How will Zambia achieve its ambitious three million tonne copper production strategy?
• How has the mining boom driven new investment in power infrastructure?
• Where have miners and lenders innovated on captive solutions (solar, wind, and hydro) and tailored PPAs to secure reliable, affordable energy?
• Have flagship projects, like Lumwana Super Pit, positioned Zambia and Zimbabwe as regional energy and industrialisation hubs?

Investment Highlights:

• Lumwana Super Pit
• Bikita Mine
• Kansanshi S3 Expansion
• Karo Platinum Solar Expansion
• Itimpi I & II
• Hwange Expansion

The C&I power sector is undergoing a major structural shift, as industries increasingly fund and drive their own power investment – unlocking large project pipelines.

• How has self-funded captive generation (solar, wind, and hydro) being paired with BESS to help industries achieve energy independence from the grid?
• Beyond mining, which other industries have adopted captive power and aggregated offtake models?
• How have market liberalisation and regulatory reform accelerated direct engagement and hard-currency payments for these projects?

Investment Highlights:

• Zimplats’ Selous Mine
• FQM’s Sentinel Mine
• Eureka’s Gold Mine
• Sable Chemicals
• Tsingshen
• Zambia Sugar

Financial structures in Zambia and Zimbabwe have evolved over the past 12 months but can individual success stories become scalable, replicable models.

• How have lenders financed outside the traditional long-term PPAs?
• Where have lenders overcome the risks of local currency financing?
• What impact has market liberalisation had on the procurement and risk instruments for flagship projects?
• Where has offtaker risk been mitigated and what does this mean for future deal structuring?

Investment Highlights:

• Zimbabwean GPSAs
• Chisamba Solar Plant
• Maamba Expansion
• Renewable Energy Liquidity Mechanism (RELM)
• Guruve Solar Carbon Feed-In Programme (CFIP)
• REF Zimbabwe
• ZAMWatt
• Itimpi Phase II
• Kariba Floating Solar

Both countries have scaled rural electrification under their M300 Compacts, with the focus shifting to build commercially viable markets that attract private investment and deliver energy access at scale.

• How has Productive-Use Energy turned rural electrification into a profitable investment opportunity?
• Which financial models and regulatory reforms have made rural projects most commercially attractive?
• What progress has been made on M300, and where has the opportunity been established for private investors?

Investment Highlights:

• M300 SEforALL
• Universal Access Clustering
• REF Zimbabwe
• Distributed Power Africa

As both countries move beyond a hydro-dominated energy mix, diversification has emerged as key to strengthening energy security and building investor confidence.

• How has diversifying beyond hydro, into solar, thermal, wind, and BESS strengthened energy security and investor confidence?
• What will it take to move the wave of MoUs signed under market liberalisation to financial close and operation?
• How have hybrid solutions and thermal power complemented solar and wind to de-risk the market through economic shocks?

Investment Highlights:

• Hwange Thermal
• KONKOLA Copper Mine
• Leopard’s Hill
• ZESCO-CEC 500MW
• Chisamba Solar
• Kariba Floating Solar
• Prospect Lithium
• Sabi Star Lithium Mine

Southern Africa’s power trading market has scaled fast, creating new commercial opportunities and greater resilience across the region.

• As trading volumes and interconnection have grown, where is the biggest opportunity for commercial players to enter the SAPP market?
• How has energy trading helped industries stay resilient through recent droughts and economic shocks?
• What returns has SAPP’s hard-currency trading model, and projects like the ZAMTAN interconnector, opened for private investors?

Investment Highlights:

• SAPP & RETRADE SAPP
• Leopard Hill Solar
• SAPP & IRB-EAPP MoU
• Afreximbank Credit Facility
• ZAMTAN
• Chisamba Solar

As regional generation capacity continues to expand under market liberalisation, transmission infrastructure will determine whether Southern Africa’s grid can truly be future proofed.

• How will expanding transmission capacity reshape the trajectory of regional power trading?
• Which infrastructure projects are advancing through private investment?
• How will growing transmission capacity reshape regional power trading?
• What role will AI play in optimising transmission and enabling smarter power trading?

Investment Highlights:

• ZIZABONA
• ZAMTAN
• ZTK
• Caledonia Mining
• ZAMTAN
• Sinomine
• KKIP
• FQM’s Trident & Kansanshi S3

Celebrating How Zambia and Zimbabwe Have Unlocked FDI Through Connectivity, Credibility, and Cooperation