Techno-economic Analysis of Refit for Generating Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources in Zambia

Zambia is endowed with plentiful of natural energy sources mix including fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. The rapid socio-economic development coupled with highly uncertainty population growth and hunger to achieve universal energy access for all has led to a rapid increase in energy demand. This rapid increase including highly dependent on only one energy sources that exposes the electricity sector to power generation deficit during seasonal droughts has made the issue of energy diversification more prominent in the country. In this paper, a system dynamic model was established to create long term scenarios roadmap for electricity generation mix based on electricity demand projection. The model was used to identify the effective renewable energy electricity generation mix for the period 2019-2035 by which a lower import electricity dependency could be achieved. The study further conducted the techno-economic analysis of the optimal scenario based on the proposed REFiT prices. The model developed was applied to a specific case of Zambia to assess the long term techno-economic effects of feed in tariff on promoting renewable energy technology implementation in electricity sector of Zambia. The results of the study will play essential role in providing a basis to assist and guide in policy making by better understanding of the policy challenges emerging in the implementation and impact on the government expenditures. This will further help in making informed investment plan and decisions towards achieving sustainability in the electricity sector of the country. It will also help in development of long term appropriate milestones and power strategies including actions for achieving country's electricity supply security.