Zambezi River Authority Set Limits On Water Usage At Lake Kariba

ZESA Holdings is managing its water allocation from the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) for power generation at Kariba South Bank Hydro Power Plant to ensure that it does not exhaust its share prematurely.

This was said by ZESA consultant (international business) Cletus Nyachowe during an interview with State media. He said:

The Zambezi River Authority, which manages water in Kariba Dam and allocates a certain amount of water to ZPC and ZESCO of Zambia for power generation, has given us the latitude to vary our power output from Kariba on condition that our overall water condition is maintained within its set limits.

Another point you may want to note is that when you see us generating between 800MW and 892MW at Kariba, that power output is probably on for an hour or less.

During the day, it is regulated up and down as and when required. So, normally that maximum output is only generated during peak demand periods.

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We are operating Kariba very carefully and within our water limits.

In January this year, ZRA announced plans to review the Tripartite Water Purchase Agreement to stiffen penalties against the over-utilisation of Lake Kariba and Zambezi River water.

ZRA Chief Executive, Munyaradzi Munodawafa said the Council of Ministers Resolution needed to be fully implemented to effectively regulate the utilisation of water.

He made the remarks during his visit to the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project site.

In November 2022, ZRA which runs the Kariba Dam ordered ZPC to cut electricity generation by half owing to low water levels.

ZRA which is jointly owned by Zimbabwe and Zambia told ZPC that the dam “no longer has any usable water to continue undertaking power generation operations.”

The directive saw ZESA Holdings implementing a tough load-shedding regime that saw consumers being plunged into darkness for at least 20 hours per day.

More: Pindula News