The Southern African Development Community (SADC) concluded its Sustainable Energy Week from 23 to 27 February at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, focusing on clean energy and efficiency to drive regional growth. Across 16 member states, only 56 percent of the population has electricity access, while installed generation capacity exceeds 83,000 megawatts, mainly from coal and hydropower. Under the theme Boosting Regional Economic Growth through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency, officials discussed strategies to expand access, improve efficiency, and strengthen regional energy security.
From 23 to 27 February, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) showcased a regional push to accelerate the adoption of clean energy and energy-efficient technologies at its Energy Week in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. According to SADC data, the regional electricity access rate is around 56 per cent, though access in rural areas remains significantly lower. Installed generation capacity exceeds 83,000 megawatts, with coal and hydropower still dominating the energy mix.
The ultimate goal of the region is to integrate. And for us to integrate, it means all infrastructure that is related to enable integration happens. And one of those is infrastructure. And behind infrastructure is the much needed impetus on energy. Everything else happens through energy. If we talk agriculture, transformation, if we talk industrialization, you talk education, you talk health after delivery, they’re all underpinned by energy.
Elias Mpedi Magosi, Executive Secretary, SADC – Botswana
Officials in the SADC region highlighted that stronger grid interconnections, private sector involvement, and energy efficiency are key to sustainable growth. They stressed that public-private partnerships and international cooperation will be crucial to mobilizing the $50 billion needed over the next decade to achieve regional renewable energy targets.
We need to make sure that we’ve got the right infrastructure that facilitates energy. First, to be available, energy generation. And then secondly, it’s energy utilization. Energy security means all the countries that we have around us are actually part and parcel of the Southern African power pool. We have got three countries which have got excess capacity right now, which is Angola, Malawi and Tanzania that we are trying to bring into the Southern Africa Power Pool.
Elias Mpedi Magosi, Executive Secretary, SADC – Botswana
The SADC Energy Week demonstrated how coordinated policies and investment strategies across the 16 member states are positioning clean energy as both an environmental and economic lever for regional development
