18 June 2026, Cape Town, South Africa — Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC (CEC) was spotlighted as the defining example of how a well-positioned utility can serve not merely as a power supplier, but as an engine of national and continental industrialisation, at the Africa Energy Forum 2026, themed “Building Africa’s Industrialised Future”.

Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary for Energy Professor Ephraim Kabunda Munshifwa cited CEC’s track record as proof that African nations need not wait on sovereign-backed financing to build transformative energy infrastructure.

“CEC has demonstrated that sovereign-free financing, long-tenor green bonds,and direct offtake agreements is not just a Zambian story, it is a model that every African nation looking to industrialise should study closely,” said Prof. Munshifwa.

In December 2023, CEC through its subsidiary CEC renewables issued a USD 200 million green bond, Zambia’s first-ever, with an initial USD 53.5 million tranche that was oversubscribed by 178%. This was followed by a second tranche of USD 96.7 million in December 2024, bringing the total issuance to USD 150 million, supporting the development of 230 MW of solar capacity.

The transaction stands out in the African infrastructure finance landscape because it required no sovereign guarantees, secured a 15-year financing tenure, and achieved competitive commercial rates based entirely on project fundamentals.

The flagship outcome of this financing is the combined development of CECs Riverside and Itimpi I and II projects which have added 230 MW to Zambia’s grid.

CEC Chief Projects Officer, Eng. Vincent Nyirenda, highlighted CEC’s disciplined, tenacity-driven track record of delivering customer solutions that enabled this milestone.

“Because of our tenacity to find solutions for customers, we have this history of over seventy years in finding solutions, and we pushed to be able to find an opportunity in the market for green financing.”

“The future of CEC essentially looks bright. We are looking to bring in battery energy storage solutions, we are looking to develop interconnectors that will help regional growth expansion, and we are looking to do network expansion works within CEC itself that ultimately would bring in more power into the grids,” added Mr Nyirenda.

CEC’s strides are tied to supporting Zambia’s national  targets; 10 GW of generation capacity by 2030 and 3 million metric tons of copper production annually both requiring sustained, large-scale power supply.

The alignment between IPP strategy and industrial policy, Prof. Munshifwa argued, is a critical differentiator.

“Reforms work,” said Prof. Ephraim Kabunda Munshifwa.

“We have seen these reforms in the energy sector such as open access, net metering, smart metering and the results are now showing.  CEC has been at the heart of demonstrating the possibilities with these reforms”. Zambia’s energy ambitions extend beyond its borders. The Zambia-Tanzania Interconnector, expected in 2028, will link the Southern and Eastern African Power Pools.

“To the rest of the world, we are saying: Zambia is open for business,” Prof. Munshifwa concluded. “We have private partners such as CEC and others who can work with us to produce the power this country and this continent require.”

ENDS. 

For more information, contact:

Verona Mwila Nkolola
Head – Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
CEC Group of Companies
Email: [email protected]