Zambia regulator approves $270 million Congo transmission link

Bloomberg News | May 6, 2025 | 6:45 am Energy Africa Copper

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Sentinel open-pit copper mine. (Image courtesy of First Quantum Minerals.)

Zambia’s energy regulator approved the construction of a high-voltage transmission line to link its copper rich North-Western province to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The $270-million Kalumbila-Kolwezi Interconnector Project will run 200 kilometers (124 miles) across the border of the African nations as a “major step toward strengthening regional power trade and advancing the government’s goal of attracting private sector investment in energy infrastructure,” Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board said in a statement Tuesday.

Zambia’s copper mines have been forced to look outside of the country for electricity supply after a historic drought slowed output from hydroelectric dams. The nation last year asked mining companies to cut demand, while some have managed to secure imports from South Africa.

The KKIP transmission project will link to a substation on the First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Sentinel mine property in Kalumbila, according to Enterprise Power DRC, a private power trading company.

The regulator approved the construction permits for the line along with two other solar and battery installations in Zambia.

(By Taonga Mitimingi)