Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Government of Zambia through the Ministry of Energy, has announced the extension of the daily hours of load shedding from the current 8 hours to 12 hours with effect from Monday, 20 May 2024.
The 8-hour load-shedding regime took effect on the 11th of March 2024.
In a statement issued on Friday, 24 May 2024, signed by Minister of Energy Peter Chibwe Kapala, the load shedding will be staggered in periods of 6 hours each day to ensure that there is power supply available until the end of the year.
Kapala said Zambia’s power generation is primarily hydro with the country’s dependence still at 85% of the total installed capacity of 3,777 Megawatts. He added:
This reliance has been severely tested by drought highlighting the inherent risks and limitations of depending on a single energy source.
As of 14th May 2024, the water available for power generation at Kariba Dam, the hardest hit reservoir in terms of reduced water inflows, stood at 48.6% yielding a paltry 166MW of power from the total installed power generating capacity of 1,080MW.
As reported by the Zambezi River Authority, the water levels did not appreciate at the end of the rainy season and have since continued on a downward trend.
The situation for the Kafue River Basin, which has traditionally been our most reliable, has not been any better.
The Itezhi Tezhi Dam as of 14th May 2024 stood at 39% of usable water for the generation of electricity.
Kapala said the country’s power utility, ZESCO Limited has taken steps to steadily increase power imports as a measure to reduce the deficit to support industries during the emergency period. He said:
While the power imports have eased pressure on the national grid, it is not without some limitations which include network transmission constraints on some routes within the regional market.
At present, our total power imports (firm and non-firm) stand at 188MW. In addition to that, ZESCO Limited has clawed back power from export contracts to a total of 160MW.
Zimbabwe is also heavily dependent on the Kariba Dam for power generation but of late, the country’s power utility, ZESA Holdings, has been generating more than 500 MW from the reservoir.
According to Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), on Friday, 24 May, Kariba Hydro was generating 654 MW. Hwange was producing 989 MW, while IPPs were generating 45 MW, to give a total of 1 688 MW.
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