Copperbelt Energy Corporation

COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION PLC

SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN CENTRAL AFRICA

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COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION

CONNECTION THROUGH ENERGY

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Mutale Mukuka, Chief Financial Officer at Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc, about accessible energy, sustainable growth, and facilitating the free flow of information across Central Africa.

Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC) is a Zambian electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and supply company.

In 2017, CEC celebrated twenty years of successful operations after privatization, and among the many accolades the company received that year was the Environment Award by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency in recognition of their overall contribution to sustainable environmental practices. A major developer of energy infrastructure in Africa, CEC is respected for their skills in designing and operating transmission systems, and their particular dedication to enabling energy availability and accessibility for customers in Zambia and the DRC. “Our company first came into existence in the early fifties,” explains Mutale Mukuka, Chief Financial Officer at CEC. “We were initially established by mining companies who operated on the land between Zambia and

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the DRC – the mining belt. They had a few coal power plants already to support their operations but came together to establish a streamlined energy business and the Rhodesia Congo Border Power Corporation came into being. It was later known as the Copperbelt Power Company, and, after independence, the company was nationalized and subsequently incorporated into the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), operating as the Power Division.

This takes us to the late nineties, when CEC as we know it today was born out of the privatization of ZCCM. Since 2006, when CEC was bought by a group of Zambian-led investors, it has played a bigger role in Africa, venturing into different operations and looking into commercializing assets the Company already owned. Today, the business is the largest power trader in Southern Africa, our intention being to grow supplies

CEC IS RESPECTED FOR THEIR SKILLS IN DESIGNING AND OPERATING TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS.

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COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION

BY INNOVATING, BY INVESTING IN THE NEW AND CHANGING WITH THE TIMES, CEC HAS REACHED A STRONG POSITION MOVING FORWARD.

MR MUTALE MUKUKA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AT COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION.

of power and infrastructure build in the DRC too, as we continue to see ourselves more involved with the mining operations there.”

SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE With a new century has come new challenges – and new opportunities. CEC is bent on growing the renewables share of their energy mix.

“We recently commissioned a solar plant,” says Mr. Mukuka. “It is called the Riverside Solar PV Plant, near the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, and it’s a first for Zambia. It is 1MW, so it’s relatively small, but we are very excited about it because it will generate clean, reliable energy for Zam-

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bians. Zambia is prone to power outages resulting from hydrological risks associated with the country’s current energy mix, which is dominated by hydropower. This prompted us to further explore solar and other renewable energy resources.”

“An additional benefit of this project to the community and country is the component of training in the development and management of solar energy, both at professional and academic level,” adds Mr. Mukuka. “With our German partners, we have been able to introduce a new solar energy curriculum at one of the country’s top universities – the Copperbelt University. This means that we are able to train both our staff

ers in the region. We have realized that the biggest bottleneck in the transmission of power is actually getting the power to our customers, or in other words a question of accessibility. Hence, there are a number of infrastructure projects in the pipeline that we will continue to focus on in the months to come as we believe we have a significant role in creating infrastructure.”

ACCESSIBLE ENERGY Zambia currently only has an electrification rate of around 30% nationwide, and access to electricity is vital to the Zambian government’s long-term economic development strategy, for both individual users and for businesses. “We have identified opportunities that are available to extend the transmis-

sion grid or even establish an isolated grid to help move forward in this area,” says Mr. Mukuka. “Some years ago, we extended our transmission to support a mine that was just a few kilometers on the DRC side. To do this, we had to have a line going up to the border, then a substation at the border and a direct line to that mine. Ultimately, anywhere where there is demand and the opportunity for growth we try to make investments, whether that is just increasing the transformer size so we are able to output more power to those areas or whether we are able to extend the line to provide power to new areas.”

“CEC does not supply power to individual consumers or households,” says Mr. Mukuka. “Currently, the Company does not play in the retail space. However, in the

and students, thereby creating expertise and capacity available to the country at large. We also run a biodiesel refinery with a capacity of 900,000 litres per annum to produce an environmentally friendly and low-cost fuel as an alternative to fossil-based diesel.”

Still on the development side, CEC has a hydroelectric project, scheduled for full construction commencement soon. The Kabompo Hydro Power Project will have a generation capacity of 40MW, with an annual energy output of about 166GWh. “This plant will have a stabilizing effect on the national grid,” says Mr. Mukuka. “We also plan to make further significant investments in transmission infrastructure for our customSTEFANUTTI STOCKS BOTSWANA

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COPPERBELT ENERGY CORPORATION velopment including grid extension, hence access is not possible.”

“We believe universal availability of power is not something that will come easily to our region, “ says Mr. Mukuka.

“We need to recognize the affordability of effective tariffs. Solar technology, in particular, is becoming cheaper by the day, and is potentially a perfect solution for countries with low power accessibility. While we are mindful that this process will take some time, it is important to us that we are improving day by day and thinking about how we can facilitate effective, renewable, sustainable power for more people.”

spirit of public-private partnership, inventive mechanisms can be found for the state to leverage the financial ability of mining and other large industrial and commercial operations. For example, once power supply to a mining operation has been established

in a rural area, the grid can then be extended so that electricity access is available to schools, hospitals, and such social infrastructure in that area because households alone, especially rural consumers, lack the financial muscle to finance power infrastructure de-

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DIVERSIFICATION & GROWTH In order to supply reliable electricity in the first place, CEC need to maintain the economic viability of their business through strategic growth. “As the saying goes, if you are not growing, you are dying,” says Mr. Mukuka. “We must ensure that we are constantly evolving and progressing via sustained growth. We have ensured growth the last few years by tapping into new markets consistently. Early on, we had the bulk of our income coming from just two custom-

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IN ORDER TO SUPPLY RELIABLE ELECTRICITY IN THE FIRST PLACE, CEC NEED TO MAINTAIN THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THEIR BUSINESS THROUGH STRATEGIC GROWTH.

ers. Through our expansion, we are slowly mitigating that risk, as well as ring-fencing investments to ensure secure business practices. Now we have over twenty customers and many of them are very good growth prospects. We also have a robust sourcing strategy and think carefully about how much power is self-generated, how much of it is coming in from the region, et cetera. We recognize that all players should benefit from a business and should get something out of their work, and key to this is the concept of sustainable growth.”

REGIONAL PROSPERITY By innovating, investing in the new and changing with the times, CEC has reached a strong position moving forward. “One specific instance of our approach to innovation is the company’s recently spun-off internet business.” says Mr. Mukuka. “When we started the business, as a joint venture investment, we were only making around one hundred thousand dollars per annum, whereas at the time we divested in October 2018, the business was worth over twenty million dollars.

It’s a perfect example of sustainable growth.

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Again, here, accessibility is really key. Our business is not just providing power to people, but by extension, we are also enabling auxiliary services that are made available by way of a functioning power supply system.

This helps to improve production, which in turn improves the GDP of the country, positively impacting the economy and improving the quality of people’s life. Because we have run our business professionally, we have become attractive to investors and because of that there is a lot of interest in what we do and how we do it.” c

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Cell: +260 977 593 914 / 955 593 91 Email: signal@zambia.co.zm signalprocurement@gmail.com

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Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc 1st Floor, Abacus Square, Thabo Mbeki Road P O Box 320125, Lusaka, ZM Tel: +260 212 244914 www.cecinvestor.com

SUSTAINABLE

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M A G A Z I N E

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