Zambian power trader plans $100 million link to Tanzania

A Zambian energy trader plans to build a $100 million power-transmission line to neighboring Tanzania — the first such connection — to help boost electricity supplies to copper mines seeking alternative energy sources.

Kanona Power Co.’s planned high-voltage line, which it expects will take a year to build, may be completed before a larger World Bank–financed transmission project that’s seeking to become the first to complete the final link connecting grids stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

For copper mines in Africa’s second-biggest producer of the metal, projects like Kanona’s are crucial to securing reliable electricity. Zambia relies heavily on hydropower, and a severe drought in 2024 triggered its worst energy crisis on record from which it’s still recovering. Kanona said its project would work alongside a bigger interconnector that the two national governments are developing.

“It will not only increase Zambia’s capacity to bring imported power into the country, but it will also create the necessary redundancy to further strengthen the grid and secure supply,” a company spokesperson said in response to emailed questions.

There has been increasing interest in building regional grid connections, which may help move power from nations with excess supply to those facing shortages. The World Bank last year committed to financing construction of a high-voltage transmission line linking Uganda and Tanzania.

Kanona’s planned line will connect Mwakibete in southwestern Tanzania to Nakonde, a border town in Zambia’s northeast.

Incorporated in 2023, the company has quickly emerged as a key power trader in Zambia.

The competing interconnector, backed by $245 million in World Bank funding, has been in planning for more than a decade and is set to start operating around 2028.

(By Matthew Hill and Taonga Mitimingi)