ZAMBIA BEGAN LOAD SHEDDING DUE TO ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

Zambia has begun experiencing rotational load shedding as a result of a planned generator outage at Maamba Coal Thermal Power Plant for routine maintenance and a drastic reduction of water for electricity generation at the Kariba North Bank.

ZESCO National Spokesperson Henry Kapata said that the rotational load shedding exercise has commenced because as of 31st December 2022, the water level at Kariba Dam was at 475.60 meters above sea level, a situation that has necessitated the reduction of generation at the 1080 megawatts power station facility to below 400megawatts.

Mr. Kapata added that this has affected the power utility company’s ability to meet the system load/customer power demand, especially during morning and evening peak demand periods.

“This inability to meet the power demand will further be compounded by the planned outage of a 150 megawatts generator at Maamba collieries limited power plant for routine annual maintenance scheduled to take place from 4th to 20th January 2023,” he explained

Mr. Kapata further explained that the situation has been worsened by the planned outage of a 150-megawatt generator at Maamba Collieries Limited power plant for routine annual maintenance scheduled to take place from 4th to 20th January 2023.

Mr. Kapata mentioned that to mitigate the effects of load shedding, ZESCO will endeavor to optimize electricity generation at all other power generating stations to maintain the integrity and safety of the power system while continuously notifying customers and the public of the power availability status through electronic and print media houses.

Meanwhile, an Economist Lubinda Haabazoka has disclosed that load shedding has huge negative effects on both households and businesses which not only increase the cost of doing business and living but it also limits people’s ability to not only do business but also construct their livelihoods,

Mr. Haabazoka mentioned that in 2010, the electricity generation capacity was 1800 Megawatts and in 2021 the capacity increased to 3200 Megawatts, this is just generation capacity, actual generation is dependent on the amount of water in rivers, adding that from 2014, Zambia has been experiencing poor rainfall patterns that have also dried up a lot of small streams, especially on the Copperbelt, these droughts have hurt Zambia’s economic growth as the country spent more forex on power imports and also forced companies to reduce production as a result of power cuts.

“Zambia’s population has also not been on standstill. If our population was 12 million in 2012, our population will almost double to close to 20 million people in 2021! This huge growth in population means we need more infrastructure to support the population and power is one of them. The 1800 megawatts power generation capacity was left by Kenneth Kaunda who last built power generating capacity in 1977. That capacity was to support a population of 3 million people,” he said

Mr. Haabazoka mentioned that with the coming of multiparty politics, people have become petty and analyze issues only from a political perspective, as they have also lost their ability to create a sense of national identity and self-interest for the country. What Zambia now needs is to talk more about infrastructure development, slowing down on this will make it difficult for the country to even provide schools for the growing population.

“We can’t just wait for God to give us water to generate electricity, we need to use the intelligence God granted us to diversify our energy sources. Europe once started preaching green energy and they are now paying for that this winter! That rhetoric should not consume Zambia. Zambia only has 31% of its population connected to the grid but we are even load shedding. This means we have suppressed power demand! We need to proceed on the path of seeking peaceful nuclear power to sustain our growing population and region at large. Ask any sober engineer and they will tell you that the maximum we can harness in terms of hydroelectric power is not more than 5000 megawatts. Our rivers are drying. We are cutting down trees at an alarming rate! We are careless hence no rainfall. If our houses were all connected to electricity with cheap supply, they will only need charcoal for a brain,” Mr. Haabazoka stated