- The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) in Zambia has announced that in 2025, it will allocate 27 billion cubic metres of water to be shared equally between ZESCO and ZPC for power generation.
- The State-run ZPC operates five stations that generate Zimbabwe’s electricity: a hydroelectric station at the Kariba Dam, the Hwange Thermal Power Station and three minor coal-fired stations.
THE Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has announced that it will allocate 27 billion cubic metres of water for power generation in 2025 to be shared equally between Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO) and the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), with each utility receiving 13.5 billion cubic metres.
Last year, ZRA announced that it had allocated 16 billion cubic metres of water to be shared equally between Zesco and Kariba Hydro Power Company for power generation in 2024.
ZRA chief executive officer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said the water allocation will be reviewed at the end of the first quarter 2025.
The State-run ZPC operates five stations that generate Zimbabwe’s electricity: a hydroelectric station at the Kariba Dam, the Hwange Thermal Power Station and three minor coal-fired stations.
The country also imports some of its electricity from South Africa, Zambia, and Mozambique. South Africa, however, is experiencing even worse load shedding than Zimbabwe. Zambia and Zimbabwe share the power generated at Kariba Dam. All of the coal-fired stations need maintenance and stop frequently or do not produce at all.
According to a report published by the Zimbabwe Power Company, the company cannot produce enough energy because of old and broken equipment at the Hwange Thermal Power Station and a lack of foreign currency to import electricity.
The report also revealed that lower water levels in Lake Kariba led to less power generation and an increased need for load shedding.
Lake Kariba is the world’s largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) upstream from the mouth of the Zambezi River on the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba Dam at its northeastern end, flooding the Kariba Gorge on the Zambezi River.
Lake Kariba is over 223 kilometres (139 miles) long and up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) in width. It covers an area of 5,580 square kilometres (2,150 square miles), and its storage capacity is 185 cubic kilometres (44 cubic miles). The mean depth of the lake is 29 metres (95 feet); the maximum depth is 97 metres (318 feet). It is the world’s largest man-made reservoir by volume, four times as large as the Three Gorges Dam.