SADC legislators end tour of Zambian electricity generators
Afrique en ligne - Lusaka - 03/06/2008
Legislators from the Southern African Development Commun ity (SADC) Parliamentary Forum sub-committee on trade development and integration have wound up their tour of hydro-electricity power generating plants in Zambia with a general observation that regional governments had neglected the energy sector for too long.
Led by David Matongo, deputy chair of the sub-committee, the SADC legislators concluded that regional governments had not only neglected powere generating plants but had also ignored electricity generation and supply.
Matongo observed that the region's installed capacity of 55,000 megawatts was not enough to forestall the inevitable energy shortage.
Indeed, had there been sufficient investment in the energy sector, the DR Congo would have achieved a generation capacity of more than 44,000 megawatts at its Inga dam on the Congo river.
To date, this facility is producing less than 3,000 Megawatts of electricity.
The story is also the same at hydropower generating plants in Angola, Mozambique , Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania where neglect and inefficiencies have restricted power generation to the barest minimum levels.
In 1999, the SADC Energy Technical and Administrative Unit (TAU) formulated a budget, timetable and transitional arrangement for transformation of the energy sectory.
Forty-two projects were subsequently identified with a total budget of US$ 843.6 million but little investment eventually went to the energy sector and the result is that SADC is today saddled with old machinery and the endemic shortages of e lectricity that have exposed the region to such abnoxious schemes as load shedding and erratic electrcity supplies that leave many, including industries, in darkness, a feature now commonly known as power blackout or loadshedding.
In Zambia, this situation is expected to be reversed in 2011 when rehabilitation of generating plants will end and new hydro power stations will come on stream.
These include Kafue Gorge Lower to generate 750 MW, Itezhi-tezhi to generate 120 MW, Kariba North Extension to produce 360MW and Kalungwishi Power station in th e Northern Province to generate 200 MW.
Once SADC recaptures self sufficiency in electricity, it is expected that planne dinter-connectors will then be built.
These include the Mozambique-Malawi 220-kv interconnector, the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya 330-kv interconnector, DR Congo-Zambia 220-kv upgrade, DR Congo-Zambia 330- kv second interconnector, Zambia-Namibia 220-kv interconnector, the Hwange-Living s tone 330-kv interconnector and the Cambambe-Luanda third 220-kv line in Angola.
Legislators from the Southern African Development Commun ity (SADC) Parliamentary Forum sub-committee on trade development and integration have wound up their tour of hydro-electricity power generating plants in Zambia with a general observation that regional governments had neglected the energy sector for too long.
Led by David Matongo, deputy chair of the sub-committee, the SADC legislators concluded that regional governments had not only neglected powere generating plants but had also ignored electricity generation and supply.
Matongo observed that the region's installed capacity of 55,000 megawatts was not enough to forestall the inevitable energy shortage.
Indeed, had there been sufficient investment in the energy sector, the DR Congo would have achieved a generation capacity of more than 44,000 megawatts at its Inga dam on the Congo river.
To date, this facility is producing less than 3,000 Megawatts of electricity.
The story is also the same at hydropower generating plants in Angola, Mozambique , Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania where neglect and inefficiencies have restricted power generation to the barest minimum levels.
In 1999, the SADC Energy Technical and Administrative Unit (TAU) formulated a budget, timetable and transitional arrangement for transformation of the energy sectory.
Forty-two projects were subsequently identified with a total budget of US$ 843.6 million but little investment eventually went to the energy sector and the result is that SADC is today saddled with old machinery and the endemic shortages of e lectricity that have exposed the region to such abnoxious schemes as load shedding and erratic electrcity supplies that leave many, including industries, in darkness, a feature now commonly known as power blackout or loadshedding.
In Zambia, this situation is expected to be reversed in 2011 when rehabilitation of generating plants will end and new hydro power stations will come on stream.
These include Kafue Gorge Lower to generate 750 MW, Itezhi-tezhi to generate 120 MW, Kariba North Extension to produce 360MW and Kalungwishi Power station in th e Northern Province to generate 200 MW.
Once SADC recaptures self sufficiency in electricity, it is expected that planne dinter-connectors will then be built.
These include the Mozambique-Malawi 220-kv interconnector, the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya 330-kv interconnector, DR Congo-Zambia 220-kv upgrade, DR Congo-Zambia 330- kv second interconnector, Zambia-Namibia 220-kv interconnector, the Hwange-Living s tone 330-kv interconnector and the Cambambe-Luanda third 220-kv line in Angola.
