Zimbabwe’a Power company Zesa has recorded its lowest power generation capacity at Kariba in years amid fears that the country’s main source of electricity could be decommissioned this month.
According to statistics posted at Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) website on Friday, Kariba Power Station was producing just 81 Megawatts out of the installed capacity of 1 050 MW.
In an interview, Zesa Holdings acting group chief executive officer Engineer Patrick Chivaura said there were fears that the Kariba Power Station could be decommissioned due to low water levels.
Eng Chivaura said Kariba has dropped to maximum of 190 MW from its designed capacity of 1 050 MW.
Eng Chivaura said provided the rains come early then the power station might not be decommissioned.
“We received good rains a few days back and if we continue to have good rains our hope is that the station will not be decommissioned,” he said.
Zimbabwe is importing supplementary power from South African power utility, Eskom and Mozambican power utility Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB).
I realised a long time ago that African Engineers and Presidents are among the dumbest people in the world. They make climate change look like it’s only happening in Africa.
And Amercans,Russians,Chinese are sending people to space and we can’t figure out how to source energy…we have Universities and Engineers….shame to the black race…the entire continent even big headed country like South Africa….no clue…. Water rationing in Cape Town…Power cuts in Johannesburg
Anonymous shame on you, the black Race started civilization. The most amazing Race on the planet. With the most beautiful women too. Our women rarely age like cheese or wrinkly like elephant skin. Say myopic leaders, do not put us in your basket. Shame on you. Without Africa there would be no Libraries or colleges. Let alone Europe. Who do you think taught them about sewage lines? That saved them from the black plague. Research history before showing how weak your mind is with inferiority.
Why such self-hate? Cool it man. Haven’t we suffered enough already from your heroes? Haven’t you watched engineering disasters from the people u admire on DStv?
Plenty of sun and wind and uranium in the country yet you depend on the rain for power.
Let reality set in then you will begin acting like able people not dependent characters.
Zambia needs solar, wind and nuke power. All not one. The shortcomings for each needs to be evaluated. Hydro ought to be a backup undertaking.
Now we know that without water, Zesco is nothing. The warning has been there all along and you characters have been busy politicking.
@1.2 Nzelu
You are part of the problem…the only problem with black people is that they don’t want to be told the truth…always playing the race card…You are in America…try visit Baltimore…or Camden New Jersey and then we can talk…..right is right wrong is wrong…and you probably hate Trump because he tells you to do the right thing…he tells you to find solutions to your energy problems….yes go ahead and call him racist and can me a self hater….we are in 2020 my dear Nzelu…civil rights movement was in 1969
@1.2 Nzelu
You are part of the problem…the only problem with black people is that they don’t want to be told the truth…always playing the race card…You are in America…try visit Baltimore…or Camden New Jersey and then we can talk…..right is right wrong is wrong…and you probably hate Trump because he tells you to do the right thing…he tells you to find solutions to your energy problems….yes go ahead and call him racist and can me a self hater….we are in 2020 my dear Nzelu…civil rights movement was in 1969
Lord we confess our sins of Satanism and we dedicate our countries to you again. Have mercy on the land and send us the rains again. Never allow any Satanists in the position of presidency, in Jesus name we pray. AMEN.
I guarantee you this is not feasible! HH will be decommissioned before that happens to KARIBA.
At least, our colleagues in Zimbabwe have credible engineers who are bold enough to make a public announcement of the pending decommissioning of the station. The warning is timely. Sadly, here in Zambia, we have hopeless, clueless engineers running such a strategic asset. So sad.
Cadres NOT engineers!
Zambian engineers suffer from big penis syndrome
Wrong use of the word “decommissioning.” When something such as a nuclear reactor or a large machine ( a hydropower plant in this case) is decommissioned, it is taken to pieces because it is no longer going to be used. I am sure the Kariba Dam South Bank Power Station will not be taken to pieces because it is no longer going to be used because it will be used once again was the dam fills up again.
Africa’s biggest challenge is that our politicians prefer pleasing the masses on the cost of real development. The national debt has doubled in less than 5 years but there is nothing worth such debts to show
You can’t be cadre at the same time engineer! That’s a problem we have in Africa!
You can’t be cadre at the same time engineer! That’s a problem we have in Africa!
If only Zambia and Zimbabwe had started load shedding three years back, Kariba would still have high water levels. One or two hours of load shedding over the years could have mitigated today’s severe power cuts.
Unfortunately we failed to react to climate forecasts and continued operating in the business as usual mode. Often we chose to pray for rains instead of asking God to give us wisdom. And for lack of wisdom, we’re paying the price today.
The main problem is people and governments don’t understand or don’t want to see the connection between cutting of trees and forests in catchment areas and low levels of water in kariba……to them cutting PF trees is unavoidable, a necessary bad thing…..
Trees once planted in barren lands have ancient rivers and streams flowing once again….fact and proven and seen in many places
Spaka thats a Hunnid, as long as they dont see that as the solution, we shall forever be stuck in this mess.Its not an Engineering problem but a conservation problem.We have formed deserts around our water bodies, what do you expect, the problem we have is reasoning.
Planting of trees starts with you and I. if we all took this exercise seriously, we couldn’t have found ourselves in such mess.
Thanks Zimbabwe for the true picture. Our Zesco here is full of party cadres. I mean the company is essentially a party youth wing albeit with some pretence of engineering.
SELF-HATE WILL TAKE US NOWHERE.
ENOUGH HATE FROM TRUMP ALREADY
@9 Zambia first
You are wrong….Trump tells you to love yourself and build better communities for yourself…..dont waste time watching CNN….it looks like as black people it will take a billion years to start seeing things in a positive way…..don’t think we hate ourselves when we critisize our own
Miracles “died” with Jesus. You put clueless, visionless and “blind” thieving characters in leadership and expect them to perform miracles…Kikikikiki..! Muli mu chibe.! Wake up you natives…!
We must work and unity passionately and unrelentingly for the goal of freedom, but we must be sure that our mouth and hands builds a strong pillar of unity and love in the struggle. We must never struggle with falsehood ,unclean mouth, hate and bitterness. Politics is a game of winning and lossing and the winner should always take a lead and the looser should accept and develop a helping hand. Therefore politics should not control our mouth and divide us, let politicians control a game of politics and making sure they preach peace and contribute positively towards national development, we are One world, One people and ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATION.
Wrong use of the word “decommissioning.” When something such as a nuclear reactor or a large machine ( a hydropower plant in this case) is decommissioned, it is taken to pieces because it is no longer going to be used. I am sure the Kariba Dam South Bank Power Station will not be taken to pieces because it is no longer going to be used because it will be used once again was the dam fills up again.
We need to invest in wind and solar power. This is the future all around the world.These blackouts won’t stop if we don’t switch because we have destroyed our environment and times have changed. We can’t pay cash for the new technology but we can put down some money and install wind farms in Zambia and then keep building. Watch what other cities in America are doing. ****
Producing just 81 Megawatts out of the installed capacity of 1 050 MW, muno mwaha mu nyelile lififi litami lukisa bo naminungu tuni! You voted for PF who when on to contract a satanic debt to develop Muchinga and their fat offshore accounts. Now the whole country is being made to pay for it. Is I were from North-West, Western ans Southern, I would refuse to pay this debt, let Sata’s relatives and his traditional cousins who benefited pay it back.
Funny how Africans in the diaspora think they are smarter than people back home.
reading their posts daily one can clearly see
just how stupid these guys are.
Wrong wording by ZIM engineers, decommissioning means does not mean temporary setbacks