We are all aware of the correspondence from the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) to Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) on the exhaustion of 2022 water allocation and the need for shut down of Kariba South Bank Power Station. This correspondence was strictly between stakeholders but it somehow found itself in the social media domain thereby generating a lot of interest and anxiety across the country. To this end and to allay several fears, I wish to clarify the position and the way forward.
ZPC has indeed exhausted its water allocation for the year. However, Kariba Power Station will not shut down completely, rather it will continue to generate but at a reduced capacity of up to 300MW daily average pending a review of the water situation at the dam in January 2023. This means that the power station has the latitude to vary its capacity as long it maintains the required average capacity.
The reduction of capacity at Kariba Hydro Power Station results in a loss of 300MW in capacity that the Ministry is addressing.
The Ministry has come up with measures through its utility ZESA and IPPS to mitigate the challenges.
In the immediate term:
1. Increase Imports from the Region Bilateral – ZESA is currently negotiating for additional imports from the current suppliers. SAPP Market – more power will also be secured through the SAPP market.
2. Increasing production from local power generation installations-
Hwange Power Station – ZPC will ramp up production at the Power
Station to average 400MW. Small thermals ZPC will ramp up production at small thermals to produce a combined total of 45MW.
IPPs – support will be given to all IPPs o enable them to produce at maximum capacity especially ZZEE.
