Africa GreenCo, a regional renewable energy trader, has signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement with pan-African group AXIAN to buy electricity from a solar plant under development in Zambia, as Southern Africa seeks to expand power supply and strengthen cross-border electricity trade.
The agreement, signed at the just ended Energy Forum for Africa 2026 in Lusaka, covers 200 megawatts of alternating current capacity, equivalent to 240 MW of direct current capacity, from AXIAN’s Kudu solar photovoltaic plant.
The plant is expected to generate about 530 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually, which Africa GreenCo will sell to utilities, mines and businesses across the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
Africa GreenCo said the agreement was its largest power purchase agreement to date and would provide AXIAN with an offtaker for the project while expanding access to renewable electricity for customers across the region.
“A producer gets a buyer it can bank on, and customers across the region gain clean power they could not secure alone,” Africa GreenCo founder and Group Chief Executive Ana Hajduka said.
The agreement comes as Southern African countries seek to diversify their electricity sources and strengthen regional power markets amid growing demand and supply constraints.
The 2024 drought exposed the vulnerability of hydro-dependent electricity systems, reinforcing the need to develop alternative generation capacity and improve regional power trading.
AXIAN said the Kudu project would help diversify Zambia’s energy mix and provide clean, competitively priced electricity.
“The signing of the Kudu PPA with Africa GreenCo is a major milestone for AXIAN in Zambia and marks the beginning of a partnership that we hope to further strengthen through future projects,” said Benjamin Memmi, chief executive of AXIAN’s Energy Cluster.
He said the project would build on AXIAN’s existing investments in Zambia, including its 54-megawatt-peak Bangweulu solar plant.
Memmi said the company was working with its partners towards financial close and construction of the Kudu project.
AXIAN Chairman Amin Hiridjee said the company intended to continue investing in Zambia, describing the country as welcoming to its operations.
The transaction also highlights the potential role of regional electricity traders in connecting independent power producers with customers across national borders.
Africa GreenCo said it had traded 4 terawatt-hours of electricity across Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa since 2021, including more than 1.4 TWh in 2026 alone. It has also signed power purchase agreements covering 125 MW in Zambia.
The company aggregates electricity supply from independent producers and sells it to buyers, offering generators an alternative route to market while enabling customers to access power through regional trading arrangements.
Commenting on the deal, Africa GreenCo’s Zambia Managing Director, Wezi Gondwe, said clear transmission and electricity-wheeling rules were essential to expanding regional trade.
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“Clear wheeling rules turn spare capacity into regional supply,” Gondwe said, adding that agreements such as the Kudu deal could help demonstrate the value of Zambia’s open-access electricity framework.
The agreement was signed at the Energy Forum for Africa, held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre from October 7 to 9, where ministers, utilities, investors and power producers discussed efforts to develop an integrated regional electricity market.
Standard Bank and its Zambian subsidiary, Stanbic Bank Zambia, are supporting the transaction.
Sherrill Byrne, Standard Bank’s head of project finance, said the deal reflected the importance of partnerships between renewable energy developers, electricity traders and financing institutions in bringing new projects to completion.
“By bringing together experienced developers, innovative power-market platforms and traders and long-term financing partners, we can help unlock bankable projects that deliver reliable, affordable and cleaner power where it is needed most,” Byrne said.
Africa GreenCo is backed by guarantee support from GuarantCo and the European Union’s EFSD+ programme and expects to support up to 900 MW of renewable energy power purchase agreements, providing payment security to help projects reach financial close.
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