Grid Africa and TCL Solar Partner to Deploy 100 MW of Solar Projects in Zimbabwe and Zambia

Grid Africa and TCL (SSE: 000100) announced a Strategic Partnership to install solar systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Initially, Grid Africa plans to deploy 100 MW of #PV and energy storage systems (#ESS) in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

In October 2024, Grid Africa secured a ZAR 50 million ($2.8M) equity investment from Rifuwo Energy Partners. Commenting the deal, Hope Segone, CEO of Rifuwo, stated: “Grid Africa aligns with our mission to drive a Just Energy Transition (#JET) toward a sustainable future. We are excited to partner with an experienced and entrepreneurial team who have a proven track record in developing and maintaining hybrid projects in challenging environments such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Cote d’Ivoire.”

Both Zimbabwe and Zambia have recently enacted regulatory reforms to remove barriers to PV systems and distributed solar power. Thus, conditions for a conducive #BusinessClimate have been created to foster rapid deployment and scaling up of renewable energy projects.

“There is a solution to the crisis across these two countries [Zimbabwe and Zambia] if we embrace new emerging technologies that are immediately available and quick to deploy. Just as we successfully revolutionized telecommunications with GSM technology, we can apply the same mindset to solve our energy security challenges.”

Econet Wireless Executive and Grid Africa CEO Norman Moyo

“In partnering with Grid Africa, we are excited to contribute to a sustainable energy future for the region. Targeting the high temperature and high irradiation environment of Zimbabwe and Zambia, we have optimized the existing module design by following the advanced TOPCon passivation structural technology patents of SunPPower and enhanced the thermal resistance and power generation capacity of the modules.”

TCL Solar GM for MEA Region Tian Xu