Minister of Energy and Power Development Edgar Moyo has highlighted a significant factor contributing to the nation’s ongoing power shortages. Minister Moyo said the reduction in water allocation from the Kariba Dam by the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has resulted in a substantial decrease in power generation capacity.
“We are keeping to the limit of the water allocation as given by the ZRA which is eight billion cubic metres allocated to Zimbabwe and the same to Zambia. This allows us to generate about 214 megawatts which is way below our installed capacity at Kariba which is 1 050 megawatts. What it means is that we have lost 800 megawatts capacity which is almost 50 percent of our requirement as a nation,” said Moyo
Consequently, Moyo said the nation finds itself grappling with low generation levels at the Kariba Dam, exacerbating an already precarious energy situation. “We now have low generation at Kariba but not all is lost because we continue to conduct refurbishments and repairs on Units One to Six to improve the capacity at Hwange Thermal Power Station.
“The repairs are temporary, they keep us going, but the long-term solution is to re-do or repower them so that they reach their full potential. By repowering, we mean that we will be installing new equipment,” the Minister said.
The El Nino weather conditions has negatively affected water inflows into the Zambezi and Kariba Dam and water inflows have been unpredictable.
