The entity that manages southern Africa’s biggest dam in Zimbabwe has ordered the suspension of electricity generation at its main hydro plant due to water shortage.
In a letter dated November 25, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) which manages the Kariba Dam on behalf of the Zimbabwean and Zambian governments told the Zimbabwe Power Company that the Kariba South hydropower station had used more than its 2022 water allocation.
The ZRA further stated that the Kariba Dam’s usable storage was only 4.6% full. “The Zambezi River Authority is left with no choice but to firmly guide that … generation activities at the South Bank Power Station are wholly suspended henceforth until January 2023 when a further review of the substantive hydrological outlook at Kariba will be undertaken,” the letter read.
Zimbabwe has faced acute power outages for several years due to prolonged droughts that has resulted in poor inflows into the Kariba Dam. The ageing coal-fired power plants have repeatedly suffered equipment failure.
Kariba South has an installed capacity of 1,050 megawatts but has been producing well below that due to low water levels in the dam.
The Zimbabwean government has licensed some independent solar producers to help augment supply.