The 2026 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Sustainable Energy Week concluded in Victoria Falls, with member states and regional partners committing to accelerate clean energy infrastructure and address the bloc’s persistent power deficits.
The summit, which gathered policymakers, energy experts, and private sector stakeholders, resulted in a series of commitments focused on closing the energy access gap and leveraging the region’s vast renewable energy potential.
In his remarks, the SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi, underscored that energy remains central to industrialisation, economic growth, and improved livelihoods across the region.
He noted progress made since the inaugural Sustainable Energy Week in February 2025, including the advancement of National Energy Compacts and strengthened regional cooperation under the Mission 300 initiative.
Conference deliberations highlighted persistent challenges in energy availability, affordability and access, particularly in rural areas, as well as inadequate transmission infrastructure and limited policy harmonisation affecting cross-border power trade.
Participants adopted a set of priority actions aimed at accelerating implementation, including expediting key regional interconnector projects such as Angola-Namibia, Malawi-Mozambique and Tanzania-Zambia to enhance power trading through the Southern African Power Pool.
The accelerating universal access to electricity by 2030 through mini-grids, solar rooftop systems and off-grid solutions and harmonising regulatory frameworks to strengthen private sector participation, including independent power producers and independent transmission system operators, were also adopted.
Participants also adopted scaling up energy efficiency as a “first fuel” through standards, labelling and financing mechanisms and promoting diversification of the regional energy mix, including utility-scale solar, green hydrogen and other clean energy technologies.
The Conference called Member States to expedite implementation of approved National Energy Compacts and commended development partners, including the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank, for their continued technical and financial support.
The 2026 SADC Sustainable Energy Week reaffirmed the Region’s collective resolve to strengthen energy security, advance energy equity, and ensure environmental sustainability while driving inclusive and sustainable economic transformation in Southern Africa.
Hosted by Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Energy and Power Development from 23-27 February 2026, the Conference was held under the theme “Driving Regional Economic Growth Through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency.”
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