Online Reporter
Oliver Kazunga
Senior Business Reporter
ENERGY and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo says deliberations during the forthcoming Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit will focus on strategies the two countries should implement to improve the security of power supply and attract investors into the energy sector.
The summit, which is slated for Victoria Falls from Monday to Tuesday next week, comes hard on the heels of the El Nino-induced drought that has adversely affected power generation at Kariba.
Zimbabwe and Zambia receive an equal amount of usable (live) water from Kariba Dam for power generation allocated by the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), which is responsible for water management in the Kariba Dam.
And this year water levels at Kariba Dam have been extremely low on account of the drought that hit the Southern African region in the 2023/24 rainy season.
Kariba Dam was designed to operate at between levels of 475,50 metres and 488,50m for hydropower generation for Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Recently, ZRA indicated that usable water needed for electricity generation, as of November 11, 2024 — was at 476,03m against 477,88m in the corresponding period last year.
Resultantly, this has compelled the country to depend largely on Hwange Thermal Power Station whose installed capacity was raised to 1 520MW following the addition of Units 7 and 8 with the two units adding a combined 600MW.
However, at present Hwange has experienced a technical fault worsening the power supply situation with the Zesa, the country’s power utility assuring the nation this week that efforts were underway to resolve the fault to minimize the impact on the economy.
In an interview, Minister Moyo said: “The Zim-Zam Energy Projects Summit was born out of the realisation that due to the impact of the El Nino climatic condition on our electricity supply and the general power deficit that we already have in terms of energy generation and related infrastructure (transmission and distribution), it is better to create a special energy focus on Zimbabwe and Zambia as the two countries share equally power generated at Kariba.
“Therefore, at the summit we will be looking at investment in the energy sector by the two countries. Such investments include the Batoka Gorge Hydropower Project, floating solar system on Lake Kariba as well as tapping into other renewable energy sources like wind.”
Work on the 2 400 megawatts Batoka Gorge project was initially scheduled to begin in 2020, but it faced several delays including the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic and difficulties in securing funding.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are retendering the US$5 billion Batoka project to build a hydropower plant the two neighbouring countries previously awarded to General Electric and Power Construction Corp of China.
New bidders for the project are expected to be selected by September next year.
Against this background, the forthcoming energy summit is expected to give special attention to Batoka and attract investors for the project.
“On the Batoka project, among others, we are going to pitch them at the summit and investors will then make their own informed decisions.
“We will also focus on power transmission — transmission by both countries is now very weak and prone to interruptions caused by constant breakdowns.
“Driven by regional integration, we also need to extend our transmission so that through the interconnectors between Angola, Tanzania and Zambia, we can access excess power from Tanzania and Angola,” said Minister Moyo.
Meanwhile, the southern African region has experienced an electricity deficit mainly due to lack of investments in power generation projects over the years, climate change — rising temperatures and changing weather patterns have impacted hydroelectric power generation and thus exacerbating the supply shortage.
In addition, regional demand growth due to the expansion of economies in the region has led to rising electricity demand, further straining the existing power infrastructure.
Initiatives to improve power supply constraints in SADC include the initiative by the Southern African Power Pool to promote electricity trade, enabling member countries to share excess energy while reducing reliance on costly imports.
Countries in the region are also investing in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar to diversify their energy mix, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
leeroy mupariri
