Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia’s first ever thermal plant, Maamba is now operating at commercial capacity

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Zambia’s first ever thermal plant, Maamba is now operating at commercial capacity. Maamba Collieries Chief Executive Officer Venkat Shankar whose firm manages the thermal power plant says the plant has been built at a cost of over US$ 840 million and will generate 300 megawatts of power to mitigate the country’s power deficit.

24 COMMENTS

  1. We have had Thermal Power plants before. There is one relic behind ZESCO head office and many more on the Copper Belt. It was all because we abandoned by Kaunda who got drunk with Kariba thing

    • Do you know that most of the power generated in Zambia is from the Itezhitezhi dam and not Kariba? So stop insulting the great Kenneth David Kaunda.

  2. This is positive for the country and southern province. When something is good lets learn to appreciate.We need a lot of such initiative to have our country develop and not always discussing politics which does not even add value to our lives but divide us .All politicians are hypocrites regardless of the party

  3. Ati first ever? first ever wakuti? Thermal power is what used to power the whole Lusaka before Hydro. Do your research

  4. Forgive the Trevor Noah teens, the only word they know to describe things they don’t know is “first ever”

  5. Good gracious! there more expatriates than Zambians when the register and log says Maamba Collieries has about 300 work force, 16 expatriates, the rest are Zambians. Did the UPND cadre imply that non Tongas are foreigners?

  6. This should be the last. We should be thinking more of cleaner and renewable energy such as solar which is energy of the future rather than carbon dioxide generating coal plants. KK was right in abandoning them except that we did not invest beyond Kariba and a few other hydro plants.

    • Power storage systems for solar are outrageously expensive. As Zambia’s carbon footprint is so low as to be nonexistent, Zambia can afford to pollute more! Coal thermal power stations are excellent for supplying baseload power, while solar is only good for day peak supply. Zambia needs to diversify its power sources and coal stations should be part of the mix.

    • Just for your information Zed Patriot – even today, the developed world uses more energy from coal-fired power stations than from clean energy. It is not just possible to stop investing in coal-powered power plants and concentrate on clean energy.

  7. Going by the video clip, the CEO is saying Maamba Thermal Plant is the “first of its kind in Zambia” in containing pollution. i.e. the Ash content (which as some of you Engineers are aware, is notoriously high with Maamba coal as compared to Wankie coal from Zimbabwe for example) is being successfully trapped and prevented from polluting the atmosphere. What’s more, Ash is made freely available as raw material for brick-making to any interested investor to set up a brick making plant next to them. This is a good arrangement. …. Having said that..

    • Cont’d… Having said that… in the long run, hydro power still beats coal power hands down, no matter how efficient we trap and contain pollutants, simply because coal is not renewable. But the real champion is solar power.

  8. ZESCO IS ALWAYS FULL OF EXCUSES. THERE’S POWER AGAIN ZESCO IS SAYING THEY ARE NOT PREPARED TO TAKE IN WHOLE POWER DUE TO UPGRADE ISSUES. THIS PLANT WAS STARTED UNDER ZESCO’S NOSES- YOU MEAN THEY WERE NOT PLANNING AND GETTING PREPARED FOR THE ADDITIONAL POWER FROM THE PLANT? ZESCO IS ALWAYS RUN BY INCOMPETENT PEOPLE.

    • True but it’s intentional. That way the ruling party can order their cadres at Zesco to fund them knowing fully well they are incompetent and are not supposed to be running Zesco.

  9. Zambian Engineers can’t even explain themselves in English. They should be allowed to speak in local languages hahaha. That’s why Kabimba said we should teach our children in local languages

  10. Thanks to our Tonga people for your scarifies, hard work and love for Zambia. Soon you will have nowhere to grow food and raise Cattle.

    MORE CHEAP POWER, MEAT, MILK, SUGAR AND MAIZE PLEASE

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