Following the decline in water levels at the Kariba Dam, Peter Kapala, the Minister of Energy, has declared that a six-hour load shedding period will begin in the nation.
In a ministerial address to the House of Representatives on the deteriorating situation at the Kariba Dam and the steps being taken to manage it, Mr. Kapala stated that load shedding for the power outage will start on December 15 of this year.
Starting on December 15, 2022, “ZESCO will undertake a load management regime to avoid a complete shut down, and we expect this will translate to six hours of load management on a daily basis.”
According to him, water levels have been steadily dropping due to poor flows from the main Zambezi river and its tributaries.
In addition, he stated, “the issue has gotten worse due to overuse of water for sustainable power generation, which has led to low water levels.”
In order to ensure security throughout the process, Mr. Kapala stated that the suggested safeguards will be phased in and reviewed over the following four months.
“The Zambezi River Authority has directed Zimbabwe to reduce to 300 megawatts and Zambia has been directed to reduce generation at Kariba to 800 megawatts until further control,” he said.
