As part of Denmark’s focus on enabling coherent South-South Cooperation between China and African countries and the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, UNDP China has been funded to develop the Renewable Energy Technology Transfer project with public and private stakeholders in Zambia and China.

The project is one of the first examples of strategic South-South Cooperation between China and Africa supported by UNDP and the Danish Embassy in China. While China has extensive experience in cooperating with African countries, South-South Cooperation, however, still has significant gaps in institutional, situational and cultural knowledge and global good practice. To address these gaps, the project supports the creation of a South-South Cooperation unit within the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. 

Objectives:

The project aims to support access to electricity for rural communities in Zambia. It creates an enabling environment to upscale renewable energy technology deployment. This includes removing market barriers to the introduction of improved renewable energy technologies and to the strengthening of South-South Cooperation between Zambia and China. The project seeks to achieve three strategic outcomes: i) strengthen an enabling environment for the transfer and use of priority renewable technologies in Zambia; ii) remove market barriers to the adoption of renewable technologies for the rural poor in Zambia; iii) invigorate the Chinese capacity for South-South Cooperation on renewable energy.

Results:

Outcome 1: Strengthened an enabling environment for the transfer and use of priority renewable technologies in Zambia.

• Improvements in policies, legislation and standards for the transfer and use of project technologies for rural electrification.
• Development of financial mechanisms for renewable energy technologies to support renewable energy for rural areas in Zambia.

Outcome 2: Reduced market barriers to the adoption of renewable technologies for the rural poor in Zambia.

• Establishment of an equipment demonstration, testing and training center to (a) improve the quality of information and performance of renewable energy technology; (b) enhance the level of training of Zambian government officials and private sector;
• Supported a rural electrification demonstration project to demonstrate cost-effective development of rural electrification capacity and built institutional and technological capacity among stakeholders to support further diffusion.

Outcome 3: China’s capacity for South-South Cooperation in renewable energy technology transfer strengthened.

• Increased Chinese stakeholder’s understanding of Zambian context and initiated knowledge exchange between Chinese and Zambian stakeholders;
• Supported a Chinese Centre for South-South Cooperation within the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Outcome 4: Project management and coordination mechanisms established.