- Zimbabwe’s state-owned power utility has announced plans to resume work on the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project.
- The Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP) comprises the reshaping of the plunge pool and the refurbishing of the spillway gates.
- The project has been plagued by covid related delays over the last two years and last month, the project was temporarily halted.
The works started in 2017 with the plunge pool reshaping. The USD 294 million project is being funded by the European Union, World Bank, African Development Bank, the government of Sweden and the Zambezi River Authority on behalf of the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, through a combination of grants and loans.
The work on the Kariba rehabilitation project will result in even more reduced power generation capacity, and therefore more supply woes for the country. Read more
“Following the Zambezi River Authority’s request to reduce generation levels at the Kariba North and Kariba South power stations, some units at the Kariba South Power Station will be taken out of service daily to allow for completion of critical works on the dam wall, resulting in reduced generation levels and load curtailment,” the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) said on Tuesday.
Image credit: Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP).
Related news: Zimbabwe Implements Daily 12 Hour Power Cuts
The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands 128 metres tall and 579 metres long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for 280 kilometres and holds 185 cubic kilometres of water. The hydro power generation is shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe with each country having its own power station on the north and south bank of the dam respectively. Zambia has 960MW generation capacity while Zimbabwe has 1050MW.
Related news: Zimbabwe seeks to import 280MW from Zambia and Mozambique
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
