Solarcentury Africa has completed the first 25 MWp phase of its Mailo Solar Plant in Zambia and begun trading the electricity it generates through the Southern African Power Pool. Construction is now moving to a second phase that will lift capacity to 60 MWp, followed by a planned third phase taking the project to its full 118 MWp design capacity.
The plant, formerly known as the Serenje Solar Plant, occupies a 204-hectare site in the Mailo Chiefdom near Kanona village in Chitambo district. Solarcentury Africa says it developed, funded and built the initial phase in less than a year in collaboration with ZESCO and the Zambian authorities. Alensy Energy Solutions of Namibia carried out construction.
The next stage is supported by a US$40 million loan from Standard Bank South Africa. The developer says the financing is the first portion of a larger facility intended to support a portfolio of merchant power plants in the region. Rather than relying on a single long-term power purchase agreement, the operating plant can sell to industrial customers and traders in Zambia or through the regional power pool.
Solarcentury Africa describes Mailo as the first dedicated merchant solar plant trading power on the Southern African Power Pool. That commercial model is as significant as the first phase’s capacity: it tests whether a new solar facility can find buyers through regional trading arrangements as Zambia diversifies a system exposed to hydropower variability. The company’s estimates for annual output, emissions savings and local jobs refer to the wider development and should be read alongside its staged construction plan, not as measured performance from the newly opened 25 MWp phase.
