By: Justine Phiri
While Zambia continues to struggle with excessive hours of Load-shedding due to skewed policies that have seen continued export of power amid a local deficit, Ethiopia has commissioned the largest Hydro power station in Africa, which will generate over 5,000 megawatts of electricity, doubling the country’s current power capacity and fueling its ambition to become a regional energy hub.
Zambia’s electricity deficit has also been compounded by almost all hydro power stations and dams being located in the southern parts of the country – prone to draught.
This load shedding which has been going on for over two years now affects not only households but has also killed businesses that depend on electricity for their daily operation.
But another African country, with a history of having never been successfully colonized – Ethiopia – on the other hand has commissioned the largest Hydro power station in Africa.
The hydro-power station will generate over 5,000 megawatts of electricity, doubling the country’s current power capacity and fueling its ambition to become a regional energy hub.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is now officially the continent’s largest hydroelectric station built on the blue Nile river at a cost of about $4.6 billion.
What is however also striking about this massive achievement is that Ethiopia is reported to have built it without contracting massive external or foreign debt.
With Zambia having enough water bodies and rivers located in the Northern and Luapula provinces that has historically enjoyed above normal rainfall and far more sustainable hydrological conditions, Zambia needs to re-think it’s strategy on harnessing these natural resources
The northern parts of Zambia also boast of under-utilised lakes and stores of massive water such as Tanganyika, Lake Bangweulu, Lake Mweru, Mweru Wantinpa and many others which could be utilised to store and be channeled to generate hydropower stations that can help address the current electricity deficit compounded by exports of the little available power, that the country is facing.
Experts suggest that Northern and Luapula province could just be the solution to enhanced hydropower generation in the Zambia.
The Banking sector and capital markets in Zambia should also get tapped in mobilising local resources to construct hydro power station in these provinces, which could actually be a game changer considering the current loadsheding hours which are leaving business and households without power for about 18 to 20 hours a day without power.
Constructing a power station in these regions could really be a milestone considering the fact that despite the drought experienced in the country in recent years, Luapula and Northern Province have had abundant water resources proving the regions to be the ideal location for the construction of a massive hydropower station that helps in providing solutions to the current power deficit in the country.
