Zesco has introduced load-shedding following a significant drop in water levels at Lake Kariba and Itezhi Tezhi. The Itezhi Tezhi dam, where Zesco and Tata Africa Holdings are close to completing a 120MW power station, is also the holding dam for the 990MW Kafue Gorge hydropower station. Zesco has an installed capacity of 2,200MW but is generating only 1,600MW. By end-June, Zesco is said to have lost $120m in revenues as a result of load-shedding. “We can generate power at full capacity but our hydrologists have advised that, with the amount of water we have received this year, we can run dry as early as this August and that will reduce our generation capacity to zero,” a Zesco engineer told African Energy.
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