By ALICE NACHILEMBE
A Turkish company has expressed interest to invest in a 200-Megawatt (MW) solar park in Zambia to help address the power deficit that has hit the country.
Milkay Technical Textile Industry General Manager, Tahir Nursacan said he was ready to travel to Zambia to explore the possibility of investing in a solar park with a capacity of between 150 MW to 200 MW.
Mr Nursacan said investment in the solar park is priority, as the experience in this sector is immense and want to share that experience with Zambia.
He made the remarks when he paid a courtesy call on Zambia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Joseph Chilengi at the Zambian Chancery in Ankara yesterday.
Mr Nursacan who is also Kayseri Organized Industrial Zone President, said his company would explore investment opportunities in cotton production and processing.
He said that his company was considering investing in a processing plant for value addition to cotton.
Dr Chilengi commended Milkay Technical Textile Industry for its intention to construct a 200 Megawatt (MW) solar park to help address the power deficit.
He said the planned investment in renewable energy such as solar was in tune with Government’s policy to promote investment in the energy sector.
Dr Chilengi said Government was working tirelessly to diversify the energy mix from hydropower generation to renewable energy.
“As we speak today, we have a big challenge in as far as our energy production is concerned as a result of climate change. There are low water levels in the dam and reservoirs for power generation due to poor rainfall. We are now rationing energy for six hours per day by switching off power,” he said.
He said Zambia’s installed energy generation capacity stood at 2,048 MW against a national power requirement of 6,000 MW.
Dr Chilengi further said Zambia enjoys 2000 -3000 hours of sunshine per year, which could be harnessed to generate power.
He urged investors to seize investment opportunities in local production of solar system components, setting up isolated grid, sale of panels and accessories.
This is contained in a statement issued by First Secretary (Press) Jerry Munthali Embassy of the Republic of Zambia, Ankara, Turkey
