UPND HAS MISERABLY FAILED TO ADDRESS POWER CRISIS
…..its five solutions to the prevailing energy crisis are a failed project, says Dr M’membe
Lusaka… Friday October 11, 2024
Socialist Party President Dr Fred M’membe says the UPND government under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema has miserably failed to address the current energy crisis in the country.
Speaking in Lusaka, Friday afternoon, Dr. Member said the outlined five solutions by the government through the Minister of Energy are not giving any hope of ending the current power crisis.
He said it is shocking that the UPND government has established load management as part of the solutions of ending the current power deficit.
Dr. M’membe observed the need for the country to construct more hydro power stations in the northern circuit which is endowed with a lot of water.
“On 24th July 2024, the Minister of Energy outlined the UPND government solutions to the current energy crisis. The first one, the Minister (Energy) said they will bring in more procurement which means more power imports. And he said Zesco has negotiated the procurement from ESCOM of South Africa and from Zimbabwe and they expect to feed the grid about 218MW from South Africa and Zimbabwe. The second one, is the deployment of diesel generators. They said they are buying diesel generators to provide an additional 90MW and they said the first 12MW would be secured by August 2024 some two months ago,” he stated.
“The third one, they promised to accelerate private sector investment in new power generation capacity. But when, how, who, where have not been undefined. And they are expecting to get about 120MW through solar. They are further expecting to increase another 300MW from Maamba Collieries using NAPSA money to fund the private sector venture.”
He wondered where government through Zesco will get the money to fund the net metering project.
“They are saying there will be free tax imports for solar equipment effective 1st August 2024. They are also talking about net metering initiative and they have to pay for that electricity, where will they get the money? They have put loadshedding as part of the solutions to the current power deficit,” he added.
Dr. M’membe who has called for an immediate stoppage to power exports amidst power crisis, said Zesco’s major problem is not transmission but production.
He said his administration will endeavour to construct more power stations in the northern circuit where there is plenty of water.
“Most of the hydro power stations in the country are based in Southern Province. We can’t abandon hydro power stations, even countries such as China are still relying on hydro power generation. What we need to do is to do more dams in Luapula, Northern and parts of Muchinga provinces because we have plenty of water in the northern circuit,” he said.
The Socialist Party President further observed that the mining sector remains the biggest consumer of electricity in the country with about 51% of the total generated power in the country.
“Zambia has installed energy generation capacity of 3, 777MW, 83% hydro, 9% coal, 5% heavy fuel oil & 3% solar. National peak demand is reported to be 2, 400MW while available power generation is only 1, 040MW resulting in power deficit of 1, 360MW. Only 43% of Zambia population have access to electricity (67% urban areas and 14.5% in rural areas). The mining sector is the biggest consumer of electricity of 51% of the total generated electricity,” he said.
“With nearly 70% of energy consumed by households in Zambia is coming from firewood and charcoal. And during this power crisis, this has worsened. This is a thréat to deforestation.”
He said this loadshedding has worked against small business holders and that economic activities have reduced.