Zambia and Zimbabwe rely heavily on the Kariba power system to power their grids and do not have enough water to circulate. (Getty Images/Waldo Sweegers/Bloomberg)
- Water levels in the Kariba power system shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia are at 15%.
- Both countries are asked to adhere to equal allocation of water for power generation.
- Zimbabwe and Zambia declare drought conditions due to El Ninocash crops are also being hit. From now on, we will need to import electricity.
Already suffering from food shortages, Zimbabwe and Zambia are currently reeling from the same root cause: El Nino, causing a decline in production at the Kariba power plant.
Farmers initially struggled as the climate system brought below-average rainfall. Currently, there is a shortage of water reserved for power generation, with water levels reaching 15% of total capacity and falling.
The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), the bilateral organization tasked with regulating the Kariba Dam, has until now been guarding the 428MW hydropower system shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia. This week, it warned of the need for a review.
“The hydrological review will take into account, inter alia, the actual performance of the 2023-2024 rainy season and the associated inflows into the lake in the first quarter of 2024,” ZRA said in a statement.
“Hydrological simulation results could increase, decrease, or leave the general water allocation unchanged for 2024.”
Under normal circumstances, ZRA maintained last year's power generation of 16 billion cubic meters (BCM), which was divided equally between the two countries.
ZRA stated:
Given that Kariba inflows have so far been well below average and may be recorded at record low levels, power companies are adjusting their respective water allocation standards to maintain power generation until the end of the year. It is recommended that strict compliance be maintained.
When fully operational, Kariba Dam will generate approximately 30% of Zambia's total installed capacity of 3,400MW and approximately 50% of Zimbabwe's total installed capacity of 2,300MW.
If there is a shortage of dams, both countries will have to rely on imports, but South Africa, a literal regional power, has little power to spare.
As with last year, Mozambique has surplus electricity and may export it to neighboring countries.
This surplus is due to low electrification rates, with only 40% of the population having access to electricity.
Mozambique generates just over 3,000MW and average demand is just over 2,000MW.
food insecurity
The Zimbabwean government announced that approximately 3 million people needed food assistance between January and March.
“26 per cent of the country’s population is food insecure, which equates to 2,715,717 people. This population will require 100,482 tonnes of grain from January to March 2024.”・Zen Fan, Minister of Publicity and Broadcasting Services, said. Musware.
El Niño will also have a negative impact on crops such as cotton and tobacco, which are major foreign exchange earners.
Read | SA and its neighbors brace for El Niño’s wrath on maize production
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema declared the drought a national emergency.
In his State of the Union address, he said 84 of the country's 116 districts were affected. Therefore, the first step was to “receive food from areas with surplus food and distribute it to poor areas.''
He also said that about 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares earmarked for maize had been destroyed since the last cropping season.
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