SADC Sustainable Energy Week opens in Victoria Falls

Minister July Moyo speaking at the conference 

VICTORIA FALLS — The SADC Sustainable Energy Week opened on Monday in Zimbabwe’s resort city of Victoria Falls, bringing together regional institutions, government agencies, private sector players, academia, and development partners to accelerate renewable energy deployment and energy‑efficiency measures across southern Africa.

Running through Friday under the theme “Driving Regional Economic Growth through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency,” the event aims to strengthen regional cooperation on policy, investment, and technology transfer to support an energy transition that underpins industrialisation and economic growth.

Ministers and stakeholders stress coordinated regional action

In his opening remarks, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Energy and Power Development, July Moyo, urged a coordinated approach to expand renewables across the region. “We need to strengthen our regulatory systems by synchronizing laws, tariffs, and the application of systems,” he said, calling for harmonised frameworks that reduce barriers to cross‑border investment and grid integration.

Moyo emphasised the complementary roles of public and private sectors, and highlighted energy efficiency as a critical lever to ensure available supply reaches productive users in industry, mining, and other sectors. “Our machinery in industry, in mining, and across the entire economy must be energy efficient if we are going to realize the benefits of the available energy resources in our countries,” he added.

Conference priorities: policy, finance, technology, and skills

Delegates at the week‑long forum will focus on several priority areas:

• Regulatory harmonisation: aligning tariffs, licensing, and grid codes to enable regional trade in electricity and attract investment.

• Financing and investment: mobilising public and private capital for utility‑scale renewables, distributed generation, and energy‑efficiency retrofits.

• Technology transfer and local industry: promoting manufacturing, assembly, and skills development to capture value locally.

• Energy efficiency: implementing standards, incentives, and industrial programmes to reduce demand and improve competitiveness.

• Regional cooperation: strengthening SADC mechanisms for cross‑border projects, pooled procurement, and shared infrastructure.

Speakers include senior officials from SADC member states, regional utilities, development finance institutions, and private developers. The event will showcase pilot projects, financing models, and technical solutions aimed at scaling clean energy deployment while improving system resilience.

Context: SADC energy challenges and opportunities

SADC comprises 16 member states, Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with diverse energy endowments and development needs. The region faces persistent challenges: constrained generation capacity, ageing transmission networks, limited access in rural areas, and fiscal pressures that complicate utility reform.

At the same time, SADC countries possess significant renewable resources, solar, wind, hydro, and biomass, and a growing private‑sector interest. Conference organisers say coordinated policy, pooled financing, and targeted industrial strategies can unlock regional value chains, create jobs, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

SADC Sustainable Energy Week 2026