Zambia is beginning to benefit as the world wakes up to the possibilities of green power—and power utility ZESCO is at the forefront of the changes.
In a world increasingly concerned about global warming, where companies and nations are under increasing pressure to cut back on carbon emissions, Zambia has a power generation capability that could become the envy of most developed and emerging economies. Completely renewable hydroelectric power accounts for 99.9 per cent of its power. This reliance on renewable energy is long standing, dating back to 1938 when the first hydroelectric power plant was constructed at Victoria Falls—the country’s most famous and spectacular natural attraction.
Zambia is ideally placed to take advantage of hydroelectric power. Lying landlocked at the heart of southern Africa, and sandwiched between the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west, the country is the source of two of Africa’s mightiest rivers, the Congo and the Zambezi. Many of the tributaries that feed these rivers originate deep in its sub tropical interior.
Investment in hydroelectric power seriously got underway in the 1960s, with the construction of the Kariba Dam and hydroelectric plant on the Zambezi. Then in the 1970s, output was increased through the construction of the Kafue Gorge hydroelectric power station located on the Kafue River. The reservoir for the power station is the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam located in the Kafue National Park, about 250 kilometres upstream. Meanwhile, two further power stations were built at Victoria Falls while a transmission network was developed to bring that power to major customers and to the areas of highest population density.
Today, some 80 per cent of Zambia’s power is generated and delivered by the national power utility, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO), which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of all the existing hydro power stations as well as the transmission system, the distribution and supply network, and six small diesel-fired power plants.
Managed as a parastatal company, ZESCO maintains an ‘arm’s length’ relationship with government: being overseen by a government appointed board of directors and managed by an executive board.
ZESCO supplies power to a customer base of over 390,000 private and industrial customers, and employs some 3,900 staff. Of the 9,450 GWh of power generated, approximately 50 per cent is sold to the mining industry, which has historically been the driver of the Zambian economy.
And the mining industry is currently going through a phase of rapid investment and growth. With the increase in demand for base metals in recent years, metal prices have shot up on the world markets, stimulating expansion in the existing mines in Zambia, and attracting new mining companies to the country. In parallel with this, there has been significant investment in industry and commerce in a bid to diversify the economy and make it less reliant on mining, all of which has combined to create a steady five per cent growth in the economy and an even larger increase in demand for power.
One of ZESCO’s key responsibilities is the development of Zambia’s generation, transmission and distribution capability to meet public, business and industry demand. And this has proved to be something of a challenge in the face of this growth.
Changes to the political landscape in the country over the past 15 years have also increased this difficulty. There have been nationwide discussions about privatisation of the national utilities and this in turn led to paralysis in investment as ZESCO was forbidden to invest in new power generation projects.
By 2008, with generation capacity decreased due to the World Bank-funded Power Rehabilitation Programme, which was aimed at uprating the existing power generation plants, the country was suffering from power deficits during times of peak demand. Realising that demand would soon seriously outstrip supply, ZESCO took unprecedented steps to remedy the situation.
The majority of capacity was being generated at Kafue Gorge which produced 900 MW from six generators, and Kariba North Bank, which produced 600 MW from four machines. Meanwhile, Victoria Falls produced 108 MW from three separate plants and four other small hydroelectric plants located at Lusiwasi, Musonda Falls, Chishimba Falls and Lunzua, between them generating an extra 24 MW.
ZESCO’s plan had three elements. In the short term, it encouraged the public, businesses and industry to economise on their use of power: to turn off non-essential equipment particularly during peak periods or to transfer operations to off-peak times, benefiting from off-peak tariffs. Concepts such as low energy lighting and higher efficiency equipment were introduced, along with occupancy sensors which switch off lighting and air conditioning when a room is not occupied. And where these economies did not achieve the necessary decrease in demand, the company operated a load management plan, rationing supply and maintaining the balance between supply and demand during peak periods.
In the medium term, ZESCO changed the scope of the Power Rehabilitation Programme to include expansion of the plants at Kafue Gorge and Kariba North Bank. Although the expansion would delay completion of these projects, it would add an essential 210 MW of capacity at minimal cost. Similar expansions were initiated at some of the smaller regional power generation plants.
Looking to the long term, however, it was plain that further power generation capacity would be required, and at last the world is waking up to the potential for green power generation in Zambia. The Kariba North Bank Extension Project is being undertaken as a joint venture with Sino Hydro Corporation. Construction began on the US$420 million project in 2008 and is scheduled to reach completion in 2012, when it will begin contributing an extra 360 MW to Zambia’s stretched grid. Meanwhile, construction began this year on a new 120 MW hydroelectric plant at Itezhi-Tezhi as a joint venture with Tata, which should come online in 2014.
More recently ZESCO has been appointed by the government of the Republic of Zambia to manage 35 per cent shares on the new 750 MW hydropower plant called Kafue Gorge Lower, where Sinohydro and China development funds own 65 per cent shares. The construction of this US$1.5 billion power station is expected to start in April 2011 and will be completed in 2015.
The future of power generation in Zambia looks bright and the benefits to southern Africa are obvious. There is the potential to generate an estimated 6,000 MW in hydroelectric power from Zambia’s rivers and so far less than 2,000 MW has been tapped. Opportunities for further development exist in a number of areas including Kafue Gorge Lower, Itezhi-Tezhi, Kalungwishi, Mambilima, Batoka Gorge, Devil’s Gorge and Kabompo. Should just a fraction of these reach development, there should be sufficient green power to satisfy the country’s needs, and to export to surrounding areas. www.zesco.co.zm
