Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve
THE 2026 SADC Sustainable Energy Week conference has seen formal business sessions concluding on Thursday afternoon with an overall assessment of the region’s energy challenges, identifying inadequate funding, poor transmission infrastructure, and policy fragmentation as major obstacles to development.
Hosted by the Ministry of Energy and Power Development from 23 to 27 February under the theme: Driving Regional Economic Growth Through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency, the conference brought together Member States, regional bodies, and international partners.
“The Conference observed that the following main challenges of sustainable energy in the SADC region that are similar remain constant as observed in 2025
These include the reality that substantial financial resources are required for energy hard infrastructure projects, while the region continues to grapple with inadequate transmission capacity,” reads the official outcome statement.
The statement further notes that access to electricity in SADC region is still low in rural areas, with fragmented regional collaboration on policy harmonisation, limiting cross-border trade and investment as a major impediment.
Delegates proposed concrete solutions to these challenges, recommending that participants facilitate implementation all the Memoranda of Understanding/Agreements, decisions and resolutions taken at regional events and convert them into timebound deliverables without further delays.
“A key priority is to expedite development of the Angola-Namibia, Malawi-Mozambique and Tanzania-Zambia interconnect project to enable power trading through SAPP grid by all mainland Member States,” reads the statement.
On electricity access, delegates resolved to accelerate access to energy (electricity) to reach universal access by 2030 through different approaches such as mini-grids and solar rooftops, in line with global and continental targets.
Member States were urged to review and harmonise policies and regulations to allow private sector to participate in development of energy projects from generation/upstream transmission/midstream, and distribution/retail as well as energy storage.
“There is need for the adoption and harmonisation of Energy Efficiency (EE) standards and labelling initiatives and prioritize financing of EE as a ‘first fuel’
“Delegates called on Member States to consider electrification of the transport sector and harmonisation of charging standards for electric vehicles for the SADC region in collaboration with the Ministries responsible for Transport,” reads the statement.
On the energy trilemma, the statement urged Member States to intensify policies and budget allocation on increase energy access taking into consideration the three corner pillars of energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability.
The conference endorsed National Energy Compacts as a delivery mechanism, urging 11 Member States including Zimbabwe to expedite the implementation of the approved national energy compacts.
Development partners were commended, with the statement recommending that participants commend the World Bank Group, African Development Bank and their Partners in providing technical support and spearheading resource mobilisation.
