By Mubanga Mubanga
Zesco acting managing director Justin Loongo said the company was facing occasional constraints at the source of import of power and this is resulting in them failing to stick to the timetable of power supply.
Speaking during the end of year press briefing held at Energy Regulation Board (ERB) headquarters today, Loongo said failure to stick to the timetable was occasioned by power supply constraints from source of imports.
“Zambia’s power imports, primarily sourced from Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), Eskom of South Africa and the Southern African Power Pool, are crucial in mitigating the current power supply deficit,” Loongo said. “However, these imports are occasionally constrained by generation challenges at the source or transmission issues on import routes, such as planned maintenance and faults. These disruptions have a direct impact on Zesco’s ability to provide consistent supply according to power schedules to its customers.”
However, Loongo said Zesco was doing something about the situation, among the things being done included putting diesel generators in strategic locations to supply Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
He added that Zesco in October, November and December Zesco imported 520.25, 550.78 and 553.30 Megawatts of electricity respectively.
“Imports accounted for 50 percent of the national supply, sourced from Mozambique, South Africa and the Southern African Power Pool,” Loongo said. “While these measures mitigated the impact of reduced local generation, occasional transmission constraints and import disruptions posed challenges to power supply.”
Meanwhile, Loongo said the large-scale 100 MW Chisamba solar project had reached an advanced stage and was scheduled for completion in 2025.
He said other projects like the Kalungwishi hydro project feasibility study had been completed.
“Kalungwishi Hydropower Project proposes to take advantage of the relatively higher rainfall prevalence in the country’s northern parts by developing up to 244 MW of hydropower potentials at the Kundabwika and Kabweulume waterfalls on the Kalungwishi River,” Loongo said. “Packaging of the projects has advanced with the completion of feasibility study updates, the acquisition of land rights, and approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in September 2024 by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) per the requirements of the Environmental Management Act of 2011 and the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations of 1997 in 2024.”
