Energy ministers, policy makers, investors and technical experts from the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s 16-member states gathered this week in the Zimbabwean resort city of Victoria Falls to find ways of scaling up renewable energy solutions as the region, which has some of the highest levels of energy poverty in the world, targets a clean and a more prosperous future.
Among other things, the week-long SADC Sustainable Energy Week (SEW) conference running from 23-27 February is looking at energy policies, net-zero targets and innovative solar technologies.
After the first two days were devoted to technical meetings, the conference was officially opened on the third day by Zimbabwe’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. He emphasised the need for southern Africa to accelerate investment in clean energy, warning that the economic future of the region is dependent on how much energy is available to power its industrialisation drive.
“The global energy system is undergoing structural transformation,” Chiwenga said. “Capital flows are shifting and supply chains are being reconfigured. Strategic and critical minerals are redefining global geopolitics as we enter a fourth industrial revolution. Southern Africa must not be a spectator to this transition; we must shape it.”
He bemoaned the reality that sub-Saharan Africa suffers from high levels of energy poverty despite being endowed with vast energy resources that remain untapped.
“It is disheartening that although Africa is endowed with nearly 60 per cent of the world’s most abundant renewable energy resources including solar, wind, hydro and biomass we have harnessed only a fraction of this immense potential,” Chiwenga said. “Our continent continues to face persistent power deficits, compounded by a significant investment gap in the energy sector.”
The SADC region, which is home to some 400 million people, is grappling with acute power shortages largely due to under-investment in the energy sector, with about 50 per cent the population without access to electricity. Of the 16 countries in the bloc, only Mauritius and the Seychelles have achieved universal power access while the other 14 are struggling, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Mozambique being worse off.
Addressing the conference, SADC executive Secretary Elias Magosi said energy security and universal access remain fundamental enablers of regional integration, industrialisation and sustainable economic growth. “While the region’s total installed generation capacity stands at 83,055 MW, the energy mix remains heavily reliant on coal (53 per cent) and hydropower (24 per cent), leaving it vulnerable to climate shocks,” Magosi said. He noted that the climate-related droughts of 2024-2025 had severely reduced hydropower output in most of the countries in the region, exposing how vulnerable its energy sources are to the effects of climate change.
“As we cannot predict the frequency or impact of such events, diversifying our energy mix is imperative. This includes gas-to-power options, cleaner coal technologies, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, emerging solutions such as green hydrogen, and virtual power plants supported by commercial and residential rooftop solar,” Magosi suggested.
He added that while the SADC region’s electricity access average has reached 56 per cent ahead of East African Community (39 per cent) and Economic Community of West African States (53 per cent), challenges persist, including transmission constraints, climate impacts and reliance on coal and hydropower.
Over the past few years, Southern Africa has registered remarkable growth in the use of solar power from three per cent to 12 per cent, which has seen coal’s role in the region’s energy mix dropping from 62 per cent to 53 per cent.
The conference noted that the cost of photovoltaic solar products has dropped by more than 80 per cent in the last decade, which presents an opportunity to make the energy available to most rural communities where infrastructure doesn’t exist.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), solar power has the potential to contribute 15 per cent of Africa’s electricity by 2030 and that figure could double to 30 per cent by 2040. Most parts of southern Africa enjoy over 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, making solar a viable power option for the region. The region has an average daily solar irradiation averaging 20 MJ per square meter per day (MJ/m²/day), with countries such as Botswana experiencing even higher levels, exceeding 45 MJ/m²/day. It is this huge potential, coupled with the green mineral resources that the region is seeking to take advantage of to solve its persistent power problems.
The inaugural SEW conference was hosted by Botswana in 2025. Building on the 18 actionable outcomes adopted at that meeting, member states are implementing National Energy Compacts to expand energy access, accelerate off-grid solutions and strengthen political commitment under what is commonly referred to as Mission 300. This is a joint initiative by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB) aiming to connect 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030. According to Magosi, to date, 11 of the 16 SADC member states have completed their compacts.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Energy and Power Development minister, July Moyo, highlighted the need for combined efforts to expand renewable energy in the region.
“We need to strengthen our regulatory systems by synchronising laws, tariffs, and the application of systems,” Moyo said.
He pointed out that the region is contending with the challenge of expanding renewable energy, a challenge that needs both the public and private sectors to play complementary roles in addressing it.
“The SADC region faces a persistent and significant energy supply challenge marked by widespread electricity shortages, particularly in rural areas. There is low access to electricity; only about 32 per cent of rural areas in the region have access to electricity, with SADC falling behind other African regions in this regard,” Moyo stated.
Earlier in the week, delegates were engaged in robust discussions focused on accelerating southern Africa’s energy transition and strengthening energy security across the region. They also dedicated sessions on Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa (EELA) and advancing energy efficiency as a driver of industrial competitiveness, lower emissions, and sustainable economic growth.
Discussions also touched on infrastructure financing and private sector investment, highlighting the critical role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), regional transmission infrastructure, and innovative financing mechanisms in building an energy-secure region.
Running under the theme: “Driving Regional Economic Growth through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency,” the conference brought together some 500 stakeholders in the energy sector, including regional institutions, government agencies, private sector players, academia, and development partners, to strengthen regional cooperation in the energy sector.
SADC is a regional economic community comprising 16 member states: Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.