News / National
Zimbabwe power generation has improved
02 May 2023 at 04:00hrs | Views
GOVERNMENT has revealed that the bilateral talks between Zimbabwe and Zambia have resulted in the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) allocating more water to Zimbabwe to enable the country to generate more power.
Energy and Power Development minister Zhemu Soda made the remarks on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair last week.
He said there was a general improvement in electricity supplies across Zimbabwe largely as a result of Hwange Unit 7, which is contributing 300MW to the national grid.
"There is an announcement which was made that there is going to be an improvement in power supply indicating that it came as a result of Hwange Unit 7," Soda said.
"And also some discussions which came about from the joint technical meeting held with the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) where some water allocations have been improved for generation of power from Kariba. There is now stability in the country."
He hoped that the power supply situation would further improve once the Hwange Unit 8 comes back on stream on May 16.
In February, ZRA said Lake Kariba's water level, which had been in recession in the last quarter of 2022, has been rising steadily following the onset of rains in the Zambezi River Upper Catchment area.
"The year 2023 commenced with a low lake level of 475,61m or 0,83% of live storage available for power generation on 1st January 2023. This was an increase from the lowest record of 475,60m (10cm above the minimum operating level-MOL) recorded on 30th December 2022," said ZRA then.
"The authority highlights that whereas the Kariba catchment has generally received the predicted rainfall amounts, it is noteworthy that a significant increase in the Kariba Dam water level will only start being recorded between April and June 2023 which is then period during which the waters from the Barotse floodplains greatly influence water levels at Lake Kariba."
Energy and Power Development minister Zhemu Soda made the remarks on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair last week.
He said there was a general improvement in electricity supplies across Zimbabwe largely as a result of Hwange Unit 7, which is contributing 300MW to the national grid.
"There is an announcement which was made that there is going to be an improvement in power supply indicating that it came as a result of Hwange Unit 7," Soda said.
He hoped that the power supply situation would further improve once the Hwange Unit 8 comes back on stream on May 16.
In February, ZRA said Lake Kariba's water level, which had been in recession in the last quarter of 2022, has been rising steadily following the onset of rains in the Zambezi River Upper Catchment area.
"The year 2023 commenced with a low lake level of 475,61m or 0,83% of live storage available for power generation on 1st January 2023. This was an increase from the lowest record of 475,60m (10cm above the minimum operating level-MOL) recorded on 30th December 2022," said ZRA then.
"The authority highlights that whereas the Kariba catchment has generally received the predicted rainfall amounts, it is noteworthy that a significant increase in the Kariba Dam water level will only start being recorded between April and June 2023 which is then period during which the waters from the Barotse floodplains greatly influence water levels at Lake Kariba."
Source - newsday
