The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has revealed that Zambia and Zimbabwe failed to utilise their maximum water quota for electricity generation from Kariba Dam in August.
ZRA said the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), ZESA Holdings’ electricity generation arm, had a balance of 5.28 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water while the Zesco Limited of Zambia had a balance of 3.65 BCM.
In the past month, Zimbabwe has endured debilitating power cuts due to depressed electricity generation, especially at the Hwange thermal power station.
It is not immediately clear why ZPC was not fully utilising its water allocation at the Kariba Dam to maximise electricity generation.
ZRA chief executive officer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said in the latest update that as at August 31, 2021, ZESCO Limited had utilised 17.35 BCM of its 21 BCM water allocation (83% utilisation), while the Zimbabwe Power Company had utilised 15.72 BCM of its 21 BCM water allocation (75% utilisation).
This leaves a balance of 3.65 BCM and 5.28 BCM for ZESCO and ZPC, respectively, for utilisation during the remaining period of the year 2021.
Lake Kariba water levels have trended downward steadily in August dropping to 481.55m from a level of 482.16m recorded earlier in that month, according to the Zambezi River Authority.