EnerSynk Signs 500-MW Solar PPA with Zambia's ZESCO

Hungary-based EnerSynk Group has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Zambian national power utility ZESCO for a 500-megawatt solar project in the country's Copperbelt Province, the company said Tuesday.

The project will be developed in phases and is intended to supply electricity into Zambia's national power system.

The PPA sets the commercial framework, a long-term contract fixing the terms under which ZESCO will buy the plant's electricity, and follows regulatory and legal approvals EnerSynk secured in July from Zambia's Energy Regulation Board and the Office of the Attorney General.

Those approvals came after nearly nine months of negotiations, including eight formal rounds of talks and a review of close to 400 contractual provisions.

With the PPA now signed, EnerSynk said it will move into the project's next phase, covering a bankable feasibility study, a grid impact assessment, environmental and social impact studies, and the completion of financing arrangements before construction can begin.

The company will oversee the project's strategic coordination and commercial activities from its headquarters in Budapest.

Company frames deal as start of a longer partnership

Jason Temasfieldt, founder and executive chairman of EnerSynk Group, described the PPA signing as one of the most important commercial milestones for a project of this scale. "Our focus now is disciplined execution," he said.

"There is still significant work ahead, but this agreement provides a strong platform from which to advance the project." Temasfieldt said the company's ambitions in Zambia extend beyond this single project.

"We see Zambia as a long-term energy market, not a one-project opportunity," he said, adding that EnerSynk wants to become a trusted long-term partner bringing international capital, technology and expertise to help build the energy infrastructure Zambia needs for its next phase of economic growth.

Zambia Development Agency Director General Albert Halwampa said projects of this nature are important to Zambia's efforts to expand electricity generation and strengthen energy security, adding that private-sector investment will be critical to achieving the country's national energy ambitions.

Bishop Joshua Banda, EnerSynk's strategic advisor in Zambia, has also worked with the company to support the project locally, describing it as more than an energy project and an investment in the country's future.

Project adds to a fast-growing Zambian solar pipeline

The EnerSynk deal follows a similar 25-year PPA ZESCO signed in June with South Korea's KS Eco Solutions Holdings for another 500-megawatt solar project, meaning the utility has now signed agreements for a combined 1,000 megawatts of new solar capacity within a matter of months.

Both projects align with Zambia's target of expanding renewable energy capacity to 10 gigawatts by 2030, part of a broader push to diversify a power system that remains heavily dependent on hydropower, which made up almost 80% of the country's generation mix in 2024, according to energy data firm Enerdata.

Zambia has already brought several large solar projects online in the past two years. Copperbelt Energy Corporation commissioned the 60-megawatt Itimpi plant in April 2024 and followed it with the 136-megawatt Itimpi II plant in May 2026, lifting its cumulative solar capacity to 230 megawatts and making it the country's largest solar operator.

The company has said it aims to exceed 500 megawatts of solar capacity by 2027. China's DZGM Energy Resources also signed a PPA with ZESCO in April 2026 for a 100-megawatt hybrid wind and solar project.

Zambia's push toward more solar capacity comes after the country faced repeated power shortages in recent years when drought conditions reduced output from its hydropower dams, adding urgency to efforts to diversify the country's generation mix.