Consulting and engineering company Pöyry plc announced on 23 January that it has been appointed by Zambia’s national utility Zesco to carry out further environmental and social studies for the long-delayed 750MW Kafue Gorge Lower hydropower project, which is located 60km south of Lusaka on the Kafue River.
A new environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) will look at the downstream areas of the site and be incorporated into the existing ESIA. Pöyry will also update the environmental and social management plan for the project; review, update and conduct the ESIA for the associated transmission infrastructure; and review and update the resettlement and compensation action plan.
Construction of the plant is already underway, with Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu attending a ceremony marking the diversion of the river in October last year. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on 28 November 2015.
Kafue Gorge Lower will consist of a 140 metre high concrete-face rock fill dam, with a crest width of eight to ten metres and a length of 378 metres. A surface powerhouse will use five 150MW turbines, with power evacuated via two transmission lines to a new 330/132kV substation and an existing substation with the same specification.
China’s Sinohydro signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract in October 2015 for the project, which is expected to cost around $2bn, financed by the Export-Import Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, as well as an equity contribution from the Zambian government.
