Mutinondo Luchenene Hydroelectric Project

The Mutinondo Luchenene Power Company (MLPC) Limited was established in 2020 and is a limited company by shares and owned by AFI Zambia Ltd, PowerMin Limited and Mr. Ezekiel Kasaro. It was formed to develop, construct, own and operate the Mutinondo and Luchenene hydroelectric facilities in Muchinga Province of Zambia. The hydropower station seeks to harness the Mutinondo (60 MW Installed capacity) and Luchenene (50MW installed capacity) river system of Mpika district of Zambia. The power will be delivered into the ZESCO grid at the Mpika substation through a 135km, 132 kV transmission line, consisting of 42km from Mutinondo to Luchenene and 93km from Luchenene to Mpika substation. The Project economics show competitive tariffs to off-takers and internal rates of return to investors averaging 16%, in US Dollar terms. Based on the current technical configuration, the Project is anticipated to generate up to 591 gigawatt-hours of electrical energy per year injecting this into the national grid and the power being taken by a bankable off-taker. The total EPC costs before financing costs, including the transmission line to evacuate the power to the Mpika sub-station are currently estimated at US$165 million. The project is expected to be a success because the market is readily available, estimated tariff is competitive and achieves a competitive IRR. This project’s typology will depend on the investor(s) interest, implying that the project is open to either FDI through a minority stake or FDI through a majority stake, or as a Joint Venture (JV) or through a Private-Public Partnership (PPP). The project has approval from the Ministry of Energy through the Office for Promoting Private Power Investment (OPPPI).

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