Zesco says it is working hand in hand with the government to mitigate and stabilize the electricity shortage in the country.
Speaking at a media briefing held in Lusaka, Thursday, Zesco Board Chairperson, Dr Mbita Chitala said as a result of the country’s dependence on hydro power generation, the water deficit at the KARIBA dam has greatly impacted the utility company’s generation capacity.
He stated that Zesco is well aware of the adverse impact that the deficit has had on all sectors of the economy hence putting in measures meant to mitigate the situation.
Dr Chitala announced that as a mitigation measure, the company commenced load management across the country to ensure that power generation could continue into the following rainy season.
“In mitigating this deficit, Zesco with the help of government paid for the importation of power from ESKOM of South Africa which began on 22 November 2019. However Zesco continues facing challenges in importing the full 300 megawatt from time to time because of the limited availability of a wheeling path during off-peak period,” said Dr Chitala.
The Zesco Board Chairperson said that as a way of further mitigating the power deficit, the utility company will be bringing on board the Kafue gorge lower hydro power station (KGL) which is a 750 mega watts power plant.
He said that the 80% complete KGL plant project is expected to be commissioned in phases, beginning with the first 150 megawatt machine by May 2020.
“Zesco is expecting to generate not less than 200 megawatts of power from the renewable solar project in Serenje by the end of 2020 which will help stabilize the power supply in the country going forward.”
He further noted that in line with government’s vision 2030 and the Seventh National Development Plan, Zesco will also continue to pursue other interventions which include the 1,200 mega watt Batoka, 1,000 megawatt Luapula basin hydro power project as well as 120 megawatt solar projects under the GETFIT programme.
Dr Mbita Chitala, we have heard those stories countless times before. I would not call those as interventions when we are still in darkness, please give us a break while you enjoy your allowances.
Fake news and half truths all the time.
The most clueless PhD holder to be Zesco chairman. Who gets a PhD from UNZA?
Yawn…ZESCO no clue, Government no clue, Bandit President Lungu no clue, Bandit Cabinet no clue,Bandit Cadres no clue….Lungu should just resign immediately i dont know why he is clinging to power
Just look at that picture of dinosaurs and tired chair warmers surely can anything of sense come out of those people just accruing seating allowances.
UPND will never be in government. If you gave a country to an anti-Zambia, TRIBO H-organisation which never celebrates independence anniversaries, boycotts prayer prayer by going to see THREE MANSIONS friends, attack the best UNIVERSITY in Africa and thinks “ONLY A TONGA can do a better job all others are unfit, you must be MENTAL like HICHILEMA and MUTINTA.
No wonder Zesco is defunct. How can a thug like Dr. Chikal@ be made chairman? All operating funds gone and now the hens have come home to roost–pick your leaders wisely.
Another Dr. How many Dr’s does Zambia have?
With all these Dr’s the country does not improve.
How???
Fooolish statement from Chitala. Why not face reality and speak the truth. The demand for electricity in Zambia has increased at a rocket speed, while the supply(source has been the same), this is what is causing the shortage/power offs) period. Zambia’s population as at now is approx. 18 million compared to the time the our Power stations were constructed, this increased. This issue can only be resolved by seeking alternative generations of power in Zambia. One of these is the Solar energy as we have the sun shining almost through out the year. Just think of it, Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway etc in weather conditions that does not have sun shine throughout the year but only for short spells do have Apartments that are installed with solar energy plates, while a Country like…
Cont….
while a Country like ours that is blessed with sun light almost all the time, do not want to move in that direction. If Lungu can invest billions in Private Jets and Firefighting Trucks, why could he fail to invest in Solar Energy. Importing Electricity is not the solution on long term basis. What is wrong with Lungu and his Friends, don’t they have brains to think
Good to see Mbita Chitala. I think wina HAZALUZA HAGAIN!
Clueless PhD holder from a useless university. Show me anyone whoever got a PhD from UNZA and gone to make it in any decent university ?
Dr. Chitala salvaged! Hope he still has the spirit of the ‘Young Turks’ to quickly move forward with solutions evading Zesco! However please be mindful of perpetuating lies when the Zambian people are expecting a better service.
You dont know Chitala, these were the so called Mbala mafias, he was RB’s campaign manager in the 2008 presidential elections and went about his work to ensure that to tarnish Sata. Today they are all back feeding off Sata’s sweat all because this moron in State House is a lost sheep. These were the biggest proponents as Deputy Finance Minister of SAP program which wiped out and liquidated a lot of govt companies. These are chaps who profited from sale of Northern Breweries, Zambia Breweries, Zambia Sugar Company, Daily Produce Board, Mpongwe Development Company, Chilanga Cement, BP Zambia, ZAMEFA, ROP Ltd and Pamodzi Hotel among others.
With such people as Mbita Chitala as Zesco Board Chairperson no wonder the company is sinking. Eskom has already told us they will supply power when they themselves have enough as they are experiencing load-shedding. The question what was the $27 million our country paid them was it clearing debts?
Lungu and Zesco are misguided and clueless on Zambia’s serious power issues.Go the Kenyan way build those more reliable geothermal plants.
You are not even ashamed all the time making pronouncements that have no results, we have a problem in this Country and such u even call them ati leaders instead of misleaders wat a shame thats why other nations who have capable leaders who know wat they stand for and mean well for their nations are awez laughing at us all the time. God please have mercy on us give us people who mean well for this Country and not these vision less people who dont mean well.
It was not an accident that we have no water at Kariba. When there was no rain, the resultant effects were known. Every body by now knows that we have an incompetent president though I belong to his party. The feedback we are being given is not assuring. You have brought the country to its knees and you don’t know how to come out. Can Mbita Chitala surely solve these complex issues of Today, reminds me of how Alexander chikwanda messed us up by recklessly borrowing and keeping telling us we are within normal borrowing debt ratios, look at the complete mess we are in now. Let fossils keep out these things. Though I am PF I will still confess that there is a serious leadership crisis currently in this country. We must scrutinize these people we vote for. This is the worst the country has…
PF I salute you for reading between the lines and being honest. Respect to you my brother
But the water levels in the lake have been historically going down due to seasonal changes. The facility itself has never expanded to meet the needs of the ever growing population in zambia. So lets not fool around and start blaming it on climate change and water levels going down. The country needs more power generating facilities and there is no excuse for this failure!!!! This is the time to measure the brilliance of our trained manpower and we expect them to come up with a viable solution. A country without electricity is a failed state!!!
The biggest hindrance to the growth of this sector is Zesco
ZESCO should have been privatized a long time ago than letting government cling to it only as a milking cow! I wonder that leadership goes globe trotting on taxpayers cost yet the visits do not bring back presents in form of acquired information/adaptable innovations to benefit the country.
Ivory Coast is one country on the African continent which seems to have found a solution to its generation and distribution of electricity, why not institute a study to learn how they are managing?
Really!!! Study from a country which produce less than 2000 mw of maximum?
How can a normal country pay USD $27 million before the contract is signed? Eskom sounds more truthful than our ZESCO and GRZ together! Eskom says the contract with ZESCO was done two weeks ago and our GRZ and ZESCO told us payments were done a month ago? Does it make sense to pay before the contract is finalized? Haven’t we been “gongered” as usual? The government should have just ordered Inverters and batteries for Zambian households as a stop gap measure instead of wasting money like that! It was as good as not paying Eskom except for what we owe! What is so difficult for citizens in a Christian Nation telling the truth? It’s cheaper to tell the truth than telling lies all the time! The question I still have is why does Edgar want re election when he has failed the nation?
@Mwine Mushi, our Country is not a normal Country as at now. Our Country is at the verge of stopping to breath and next stop will be ku mortuary were Malukula will put in chi Sando(hammer) and that will be the end
It seems it will never help, no matter what good advice and ideas you come up with, those will be ignored. The only thing left is not to vote for these guys, as they are taking Zambian people for granted
The Government is full of Ba I know it all and Ba Mu nshye bwa abaili na mafi ku buko
Understood and sincere attempt but It was foreseen and advised that its technically impossible without proper coordination and with weak balancing mechanisms in sapp on these control areas and congested lines even if you paid Eskom those USD 47 M for Power importation though ZESA or Namibia similarly in power deficits It’s a Challenge because they are also importing from Eskom It’s like a traffic Jam Then also capacity market procured power is expensive and sometimes you pay for power that is not consumed simply to secure capacity and in this case Eskom is struggling with generation facilities that could be down as much as 5000 Mw and 12000 Mw as we head into January 2020 and…
beyond especially also that your eskom power was authorized for scheduling 2 weeks ago on non firm basis among st the many countries of imports in the region and local companies Now at least we could have invested into cheaper and suitable short-term methods as we wait for Kafue lower and those lake Malawi type reservoir solar panels
Next time do not send money but have a clearing or reserve margin account and allow whatever clearing bank or Sapp to escrow only for consumed energy and invest the balance in the short-term in case the paid for or committed but non-firm power is not made available
SHARON, NDIWE HULE YABWANJI CZ EVERYTIME YOU HAVE THE SAME POSTING. PEOPLE ARE DISCUSSING REAL ISSUES AND U WRITE RUBBISH AND COLD THING
Whats wrong with these guys kanshi? Now they are talking anything and anywhere over the load shedding like maad people. Just what has gone wrong in Zambia with our leaders.
Are these the leaders we all inspire to be… mwachilamo its just too much rhetorics and no good results if anything the results are always terrible and irritating to some of us.
We have leaders full of deceit and trickery just to get an allowance for sh.tting in those expensive sofas to serve emptiness…
Disaster!!!!
Ma Rubbish
Everything is in the ‘future’. The only current ‘mitigating measure’ has been to switch off the lights!