Zambia’s Electricity Crisis Worsens As Over-Reliance On Hydropower Backfires

Zambia is grappling with its worst electricity shortages, with blackouts lasting up to three days in some areas.

The country, which relies heavily on the Zambezi River and the Kariba Dam for power, has been severely impacted by the country’s worst drought in decades, caused by the El Niño weather pattern. El Niño causes warmer water to spread further and stay near the surface, releasing more heat into the atmosphere and creating wetter, warmer air.

This drought has drastically reduced water levels, leaving only one of the six turbines at the Kariba Dam operational and cutting power output to a mere 7 per cent of the dam’s 1,080 Megawatts capacity.

This crisis highlights the failure of Zambia’s over-reliance on hydropower and its refusal to tap into its cheap fossil fuel (like coal) reserves. The Southern Africa country is 85 per cent dependent on hydro-powered electricity.

Zambia has large coal reserves but barely uses them for domestic power generation, with only 13 per cent of the country’s electricity generated from coal. The country instead majorly exports its coal, ranking 60th among the world’s largest exporters of coal briquettes in 2022.

In light of the ongoing power crisis, Zambia recently approved the construction of a new 300 MW coal-fired power plant, recognising the shortcomings of its reliance on hydro-powered electricity.

However, this decision comes after years of neglecting its fossil fuel potential in favour of renewable energy sources, which has now left the country in a severe power crisis.

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