Despite favourable rainfall activities recorded across Zambia, it has emerged that without addressing pertinent measures, the country will experience worse electricity shortage compared to last year.
This is according to a Joint Committee headed by Zesco and the Zambia National Farmers Union that have observed that unless something urgent is done to preserve the miserly waters thus far collected in strategic reservoirs, the country risks being in a worse electricity situation than last year.
This revelation was made during the Zesco/ZNFU committee meeting held last week in Lusaka.
Zesco says Kariba inflows have been averaging 1cm per day while Itezhi Tezhi has been increasing by 30cm per day. This is despite improved water flows at Chavuma in Zambezi, averaging 4000 cubic metres per second.
Zesco adds that currently, water levels at Itezhi Tezhi were at 31.4 percent, Kafue Gorge at 17.8 percent and Kariba Dam at 11.5 percent.
A favourable outlook should put Kariba at 65 percent at this time of the year.
And Zesco told the meeting that the Zambezi River Authority has allocated both the Zambian and Zimbabwean utilities 11 billion cubic metres of water each for power generation at Lake Kariba, a shared water resource.
Zesco has already utilised 22 percent of
this allocation and are generating 367 megawatts of power from Kariba.
At Itezhi Tezhi, some 30 Megawatts is being generated, and 718 Megawatts is being churned out at Kafue Gorge. At Victoria Falls 91 Megawatts is being generated, while small hydros are generating about 30 Megawwats Maamba Collieries and Ndola Energy are producing 267 megawatts and 56 megawatts, respectively, while 35 megawatts is being generated through solar systems.
With the current water inflows, the meeting observed a grim electricity situation and
noted that strategic measures have to be taken now to ensure that the country does
not plunge into total darkness for failure to preserve water for future electricity
generation.
One urgent and extremely important strategic measure could mean an immediate
increase in load management until water levels are seen to improve after future
quarterly reviews.
Analysis
The solution to beating electricity blackouts is embracing energy mix. Hydro power generation, solar energy, wind power, thermal power including gas. Depending on Hydro power generation is proving to be problematic.
In as much as the energy mix may not match the capacity of hydro power generation, it has the potential to supplement hydro power generation which is failing to adequately meet the demand for electricity.
© The Speech Analyst