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The African Union (AU) has reaffirmed its commitment to ending energy poverty and fast-tracking Africa’s industrialisation through the creation of a Single African Electricity Market (AfSEM), positioning Zambia as a central player in regional power transmission.
AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Lerato Dorothy Mataboge, said ensuring access to reliable and affordable electricity for households and industries remained a top continental priority.
“Our fundamental priority is to do away with energy poverty on the continent. And in so doing, we also want to generate power that industrialises the continent,” she said.
“Because it is one thing to generate power for homes, but we also need to power industries — and that’s a lot of gigawatts that are required now,” Mataboge said.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the Third Luanda Summit on Financing Infrastructure Development in Africa, held recently in Angola, which brought together policymakers, financiers, and development partners to mobilise funding for critical projects in transport, energy, water, and digital technology.
Mataboge explained that AfSEM aims to link Africa’s five regional power pools into an integrated electricity network to enable stable and efficient cross-border power trade.
“We are doing that through connecting the different power pools on the continent. The challenge is that our power pools are not integrated,” Mataboge said.
Highlighting Zambia’s strategic role within the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), Mataboge said the country served as a vital transit hub for electricity transmission in the region.
“A lot of the transmission goes through Zambia. But the transmission grid needs to be upgraded or strengthened,” she said.
“If that upgrade does not happen, countries in your neighbourhood that have excess power cannot export to you — because your grid is not strong enough,” Mataboge said.
She added that grid upgrades and new interconnections — including links through Angola and Tanzania — were critical to achieving a stable and affordable continental power supply.
“If we do not do that, we will not be able to have stable, reliable, affordable energy, which is our fundamental priority,” Mataboge said.
The AU Commissioner further noted that AfSEM’s policy framework offered major investment opportunities in grid infrastructure, transmission lines, and cross-border connectivity projects, opening new pathways for private-sector participation in Africa’s energy development, Mataboge said.
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