As Africa pushes forward with its ambitions for industrialisation, energy has emerged not just as a need, but as a critical determinant of progress. At the recently held Energy Forum for Africa conference in Harare, sector stakeholders, government officials, and regional experts converged to deliver a unified message, that Africa’s development cannot outpace its power supply, and that without adequate and sustainable financing, the continent risks short-circuiting its own growth potential.
From mineral-rich nations like Zimbabwe and Zambia, the challenge is clear: the vast natural resources that lie beneath the soil require intensive energy to extract, refine, and add value. Yet, energy supply remains vulnerable, not just to underinvestment, but also to climate change. Engineer Hope Chanda, CEO of the Energy Forum for Africa, captured the regional concern with urgency. “For countries like Zimbabwe and Zambia, we need a lot of power to extract minerals. But when we have droughts, for example, power generation suffers, creating a deficit. What we want to create is a climate-resilient energy sector for Africa — one that can withstand shocks by using the sun, the wind. We must utilise renewable sources. The deficit we see today is partly due to the lack of access to finance. We need long-term solutions because energy is a long-term investment.”
The forum was not only a space to voice challenges, but a strategic platform to reimagine Africa’s energy landscape as interconnected, collaborative, and future-oriented. Calls for cross-border investment and infrastructure development were amplified, with the Zimbabwean and Zambian energy models cited as examples of cooperation yielding tangible results. From the shared operations at Kariba to upcoming ventures like the Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme, the path ahead is one of regional energy trade and shared infrastructure. “Zambia and Zimbabwe have long collaborated on electricity, Kariba is a great example. We are interconnected so that we trade in power. Going forward, we will build new stations like Batoka. Zambia will soon connect to East Africa. Zimbabwe, located at the heart of the southern African power hub, stands to benefit from regional integration. It will help reduce the cost of electricity by leveraging hydro,” noted Engineer Benson Munyaradzi, Chief Director in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.
The urgency of transitioning towards renewable energy also resonated through the discussions. Zambia has already operationalised a 100-megawatt solar plant, a milestone that several countries now aim to emulate. Zimbabwe, for its part, has enacted a renewable energy policy and licensed independent power producers. Solar plants are being rolled out in various provinces, a testament to the government’s intent to diversify energy sources and enhance energy security.
The forum concluded with consensus on several points: energy must be resilient, regionally integrated, and adequately funded. It must also be inclusive, drawing from both public and private sectors. In an era where climate variability poses existential threats to hydro and thermal energy generation, the future of Africa’s power must be built on innovation, cooperation, and smart financing.
The calls from Harare echoed far beyond the conference walls. They carried the weight of a continent hungry for growth, ready for transformation, but in need of the fuel, literally and financially, to move forward. And for Africa, that fuel must now come not just from coal and dams, but from the sun, the wind, and a unified resolve.
