By REBECCA MUSHOTA –  ENERGY Minister Dora Siliya says Zambia stands to reduce energy consumption equivalent to US$ 400 million if it switches from incandescent bulbs to energy saving ones. Ms Siliya told the Africa Energy Conference in Johannesburg in South Africa on Tuesday that Zambia would reduce energy consumption equivalent to $400 million, which is the cost of putting up a 200 megawatt power plant, when the country completely switches from the incandescent to energy saving bulbs. This is according to a statement issued by the Press Secretary at the Zambian Embassy in South Africa Nicky Shabolyo. Meanwhile, the conference has resolved that African countries should go into partnerships whenever undertaking power projects in order to adopt sustainable solutions and speed up implementation processes. The African Union (AU) has also pledged to help Zambia and Zimbabwe mobilise resources to finance the joint power projects that the two countries were planning. AU Commissioner, Elham Ibrahim said the AU was willing to approach its financiers on behalf of the two countries as projects, such as the proposed Batoka Hydro-power plant, being pursued by Zambia and Zimbabwe fell within the policy of integration which the continental body had adopted. Dr Ibrahim said that projections indicated that Africa would need over 700 gig watts of energy by 2040 and that countries should partner in building power stations. Both Ms Siliya and Zimbabwe’s minister of Energy and Power Development, Samuel Undenge welcomed Dr Ibrahim’s offer and committed to submitting a formal request on the matter to the AU. Ms. Siliya said Government would take advantage of the African Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting scheduled for May this year in Lusaka to engage the AU on the offer. On the use of alternative bulbs, Ms Siliya told a session of the ‘Trilemma Ministerial Roundtable on the topic, ‘Africa’s shifting energy trilemma’ that Government’s assessments indicated that the country used incandescent bulbs which totaled to 200 mega watts. This amount of energy could be generated by a power plant whose cost would not be less than $400 million. Ms Siliya said Government had acted swiftly by introducing legislation that would progressively bar the use of incandescent bulbs in Zambia. She said Zambia was already on the right path as the country had embraced the concept of integration as evidenced through the US$5 billion Batoka hydro project which was being undertaken with Zimbabwe, while other projects in the north of the country were being considered in partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa’s Deputy Director General for Energy Wolsey Barnard said $225 billion investment was required to make energy accessible to more than 620 million people who had no access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa.