Uche Cecil Izuora
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is currently seeking partnerships to help modernize power infrastructure in Southern Africa.
In line with this the U.S. Agency is inviting a delegation of power-sector decision-makers from Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia to the United States from August 29 to September 5, Club of Mozambique reported on August 25.
The Agency whose mandate includes promoting U.S. exports in emerging markets, is funding the visit of about 15 public- and private-sector representatives to Denver, Colorado, and then Austin, Texas. The trip is also intended to showcase U.S. power-sector technologies, with American companies scheduled to hold one-on-one meetings with the delegation.
During the visit, the delegation will attend demonstrations of power-grid management technologies, including software capable of predicting outages and optimizing electricity flows in real time using artificial intelligence. The delegates will also meet U.S. regulators before taking part in a commercial briefing in Denver on September 1, where U.S. companies will present their solutions and learn about upcoming procurement opportunities in the region.
The USTDA said the initiative comes as population growth, urbanization and rising industrial production are increasing electricity demand across the region, including demand linked to critical mineral extraction. Angola and Zambia are already two key countries along the Lobito Corridor, a 1,300-kilometer railway linking the Angolan port of Lobito to mining areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Washington has committed more than $4 billion to the corridor, according to an Atlantic Council report published in February.
Botswana, for its part, signed memorandums with Zambia, South Africa and Namibia in February 2025 on plans to develop new cross-border high-voltage transmission lines, ESI Africa reported. Meanwhile, Mozambique and Zambia have begun developing plans for a joint interconnector.
Southern Africa has more than 4 gigawatts (GW) of surplus generation capacity, nearly six times Botswana’s peak demand. However, that electricity cannot reach consumers because of insufficient transmission infrastructure, The Mail & Guardian reported on August 17.
In April, more than half of the electricity regional buyers and sellers were prepared to trade could not be transmitted through the grid, the same outlet added. The ZIZABONA project, a high-voltage line intended to connect Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, illustrates those constraints. Approved nearly 20 years ago, the project remains stalled at the feasibility-study stage.