Zimbabwe is currently facing a power crisis as Southern Africa’s biggest dam suspends electricity generation at its main Hydro Plant, due to a shortage of water.
In a letter dated November 25, 2022, which was seen by the News Agencies, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) told the Zimbabwe Power Company that the Kariba South Hydro power Station had used more than its 2022 water allocation and that the Kariba dam’s usable storage was only 4.6% full.
The ZRA magnificently manages the operations at the Kariba dam on behalf of the Zimbabwean and Zambian governments respectively.
“The Zambezi River Authority is left with no choice but to firmly guide that the generation activities at the South Bank Power Station are suspended henceforth until January 2023 when a further review of the substantive hydro-logical outlook at Kariba will be undertaken”, the letter reads.
Zimbabwe has typically faced power shortages for many years, as successive droughts have resulted in poor inflows into the Kariba dam.
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The Zimbabwean government has on the other hand licensed some independent Solar providers in order to supply power.
Kariba South has an installed capacity of 1,050 megawatts but has been producing below the required due to low water levels in the dam.
