Decentralised Energy Planning Workshop

On 10 April, CCG held a workshop in Lusaka as part of the Decentralised Energy Planning Zambia (DEPZ) project. This project is led by our in-country partner, Dr Mashekwa Maboshe from the University of Zambia (UNZA).

The objective of the workshop was to present, discuss, and verify proposed guidelines for decentralised energy planning, building on the CCG/UKPACT work in Kenya. It was also to review decentralisation efforts in multiple countries and sectors in Zambia, such as health.  There will be policy brief on this area in due course.  

The project has been supported by the Ministry of Energy and these guidelines were requested and endorsed by the Decentralisation Secretariat, to help the government successfully devolve energy planning to local authorities. They have been developed over multiple workshops with representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of National Development, ZESCO, Rural Electrification Authority (REA), Energy Regulation Board (ERB), Common Grounds, the UN, Members of Parliament, and various city and town councils.

The purpose of this workshop was to go over each guideline and verify it to produce a final set of guidelines. The workshop was well attended, resulting in engaging discussions and a wide range of insights.

Additionally, we conducted a stakeholder mapping exercise to verify the stakeholders relevant to energy planning and the activities and documents that already exist. We also mapped current communications flows. We will share these findings in due course, together with a workshop report and interviews from participants.

Given the success of this project, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Local Government have requested that the guidelines be trialed and verified in two pilot districts for them to then be rolled out across Zambia.

CCG has also been invited by CIG Zambia and REA to offer input on the mini-grid roll-out plans. We will provide more information on this soon.