100MW Chisamba Solar PV Project reaches financial close in Zambia

• Zambia has reached a landmark milestone in its energy transition with the financial close of the 100MW Chisamba Solar PV Project, the largest grid-connected solar development in the country’s history.
• The plant is now also commissioned. 

The project, developed by Kariba North Bank Extension Power Corporation (KNBEPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of ZESCO, secured $71.5 million in commercial debt from Stanbic Bank Zambia, a member of the Standard Bank Group, with financing anchored by a 13-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GreenCo Power Services (GreenCo), a leading SADC and Zambian renewable energy trader.

GreenCo will onward supply the energy to First Quantum Minerals (FQM), Zambia’s largest mining investor, under a separate Power Supply Agreement (PSA)—delivering firm, blended renewable power to support critical industrial operations.

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The GreenCo PPA demonstrates that well-structured private offtake can unlock large-scale funding and de-risk project development, enabling financial close to be achieved without sovereign guarantees or government support. Under GreenCo’s onward PSA with FQM, the solar energy generated by KNBEPC will be integrated into a firm baseload profile tailored to FQM’s operational requirements.

The KNBEPC plant is fully grid-connected and will inject power into Zambia’s national transmission system, significantly supplementing the volume of energy available to meet the country’s commercial and residential needs. While this energy is contracted to FQM, it displaces energy that would otherwise have been delivered to FQM, freeing up such energy for delivery by ZESCO to other Zambian consumers.

This structure thereby provides a direct boost to national energy availability, helping close the supply gap that drives load shedding. The transaction has been carefully structured without public borrowing or financial guarantees, whilst also meeting both rigorous local and international environmental and social standards, setting a new  benchmark in Zambia’s clean energy investment landscape.

Author: Bryan Groenendaal

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