Ministers from Zimbabwe and Zambia are expected to meet on February 5 to discuss plans for the Batoka hydropower project set to increase the capacity of the countries’ national grids by 800 MW. The meeting will include energy and finance ministers as well as the attorney generals.
The project, expected to cost around $2.5 billion, will take approximately four to five years to complete.
This is another example of interconnection schemes getting underway in southern Africa. Zimbabwe and Botswana were preparing to sign a MoU for the restoration of the Bulawayo Power Station (Zimbabwe and Botswana to Power Up) in November, but it is still waiting to be finalized. In April 2009, Namibia and Angola announced plans to build a joint $7 billion hydropower plant on the Kunene River that runs along their common border to produce 400 MW of electricity (Namibia, Angola Partake in $7B Hydro Power Project).
The Southern African Development Community is trying to forge ahead to unite all member nations in the effort to meet increasing energy demand in the region.