Lunzua Power Company Limited agreed to acquire a 27% stake in Western Power Company Limited, a move aimed at reviving and accelerating a long-delayed 180-megawatt hydropower project in western Zambia as the nation scrambles to curb severe electricity deficits.
The equity deal, signed in Cape Town during the Africa Energy Forum, injects fresh capital into the Ngonye Hydroelectric Power Falls project on the Zambezi River. Financed initially with support from the Private Infrastructure Development Group’s InfraCo Africa, the project’s estimated total cost has previously been pegged by developers at up to $500 million.
Zambia, which relies heavily on massive, climate-vulnerable dams like Kariba for its electricity, has actively sought private-sector investment to diversify its generation mix and balance its grid. The Ngonye facility, conceived as a run-of-river project to minimize environmental impact is designed to add roughly 830 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, enough to power 200,000 households.
“By adding Ngonye’s 180MW of clean, locally generated electricity, Lunzua strengthens Zambia’s generation capacity and, alongside the broader investment underway in the sector, contributes to a more secure and resilient national supply,” Lunzua Chief Executive Officer Martin Kasemuka said in a statement during the signing ceremony.
The investment reflects a strategic pivot by independent power producers aiming to tap into the Southern African Power Pool, a regional grid network that allows countries to trade electricity. By stabilizing the grid in Zambia’s underserved Western Province via a planned 110-kilometer transmission line, the developers are positioning the plant to capture local demand while carving out an export pathway to regional neighbors like Namibia and Botswana.
“Importantly, capacity of this scale helps move the country toward a surplus position, creating the headroom to realize Zambia’s ambition to be a dependable power supplier for the region,” Kasemuka said. “We are proud to partner with Western Power in building that future.”
For Lunzua, the transaction hits multiple commercial metrics. The company stated the deal secures long-term contracted revenues through an established 25-year power purchase agreement signed with state utility ZESCO, while expanding its pipeline of clean energy assets across sub-Saharan Africa.
