Zambia halts power exports on low capacity

LUSAKA – Zambia’s state power utility Zesco has halted power exports as generation capacity fell after shutdowns due to rehabilitation work, and the country is now importing power, a senior company executive said last week.

Monica Chisela, Zesco’s head of marketing and public relations, told Reuters in an interview the utility’s generation capacity had fallen 32 per cent to 1 122 megawatts over the past two months, costing the country more than US$40 million a year. Power rationing would continue until the end of 2006, when the country’s US$239 million rehabilitation programme was completed, she said.”Our total generation capacity is 1 640 megawatts.Power currently generated is 1 122 megawatts because we have taken out a total of 518 megawatts during rehabilitations,” she said.Zesco had since stopped exporting power to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania, she added.Zesco supplies power to the country’s vast copper and cobalt mines – Zambia’s economic mainstay – through the Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC), a privately owned power distribution firm.Chisela said the halting of power exports would lead to loss of US$15 million in export revenue.”Additionally, we are spending US$12 million to import power to cushion the power deficit during the peak demand period.On the retail side (local supply) we are losing about US$3,4 million per annum,” she said.Zesco now imports power from the Congo and South Africa.South Africa re-exports power that it imports from Zambia to other southern African countries.Chisela said Zesco had switched off two machines with a combined capacity of 300 megawatt at its largest station, the Kafue Gorge power station, while a 150-megawatt machine at Kariba North Bank Power station and a 68-megawatt machine at Victoria Falls had also been switched off.”By December 2006, we will have sufficient power to meet our national demand and this will effectively mark the end of the load shedding (rationing) because as machines are rehabilitated, upgraded and commissioned, the capacity will rise,” she said.Zesco is upgrading its infrastructure to meet growing demand for power in its copper and cobalt mines, and rising regional appetite for power exports.It plans to start building two huge power stations at a total cost of US$720 million in 2006 after it deals with Iranian and Chinese investors early in April this year.-Nampa-ReutersPower rationing would continue until the end of 2006, when the country’s US$239 million rehabilitation programme was completed, she said.”Our total generation capacity is 1 640 megawatts.Power currently generated is 1 122 megawatts because we have taken out a total of 518 megawatts during rehabilitations,” she said.Zesco had since stopped exporting power to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania, she added.Zesco supplies power to the country’s vast copper and cobalt mines – Zambia’s economic mainstay – through the Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC), a privately owned power distribution firm.Chisela said the halting of power exports would lead to loss of US$15 million in export revenue.”Additionally, we are spending US$12 million to import power to cushion the power deficit during the peak demand period.On the retail side (local supply) we are losing about US$3,4 million per annum,” she said.Zesco now imports power from the Congo and South Africa.South Africa re-exports power that it imports from Zambia to other southern African countries.Chisela said Zesco had switched off two machines with a combined capacity of 300 megawatt at its largest station, the Kafue Gorge power station, while a 150-megawatt machine at Kariba North Bank Power station and a 68-megawatt machine at Victoria Falls had also been switched off.”By December 2006, we will have sufficient power to meet our national demand and this will effectively mark the end of the load shedding (rationing) because as machines are rehabilitated, upgraded and commissioned, the capacity will rise,” she said.Zesco is upgrading its infrastructure to meet growing demand for power in its copper and cobalt mines, and rising regional appetite for power exports.It plans to start building two huge power stations at a total cost of US$720 million in 2006 after it deals with Iranian and Chinese investors early in April this year.-Nampa-Reuters