Zambia’s energy-hungry copper mines are getting a new, stable source of electricity with a US$100 million investment in a transmission line to Tanzania.

Business Insider Africa reports that the planned transmission line will be the first to connect the two neighbouring countries.

The project, financed by Zambian energy trader Kanona Power Co, could come online within a year, the company says, ahead of the World Bank-financed US$292 million Zambia-Tanzania Interconnector Project (ZTIP). ZTIP the final link in the bank’s grander interconnection scheme called the Regional Energy Transmission, Trade and Decarbonisation Project in Southern Africa, which itself will form part of ‘the largest geographic energy market in the world—from Cape Town to Cairo’, according to the World Bank.

Zambia is the world’s second-largest copper producer, but most of its mines depend on hydropower for their electricity, which was severely disrupted in 2024 because of drought.

‘[The project] will not only increase Zambia’s capacity to bring imported power into the country, but it will also create the necessary redundancy to further strengthen the grid and secure supply,’ a Kanona spokesperson said.

The proposed line will run between Mwakibete in south-western Tanzania and Nakonde, a border town in north-eastern Zambia, the company said.

27 January 2026
Image: Freepik