Kafue Gorge turbines roar – Zambia

THE filling of the US$2.3 billion Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station Dam in readiness for commissioning later this month will start on Sunday and will take about a week to be full.

Minister of Energy Matthew Nkhuwa told Parliament that as the dam is filling, there will be increased load-shedding because generation at Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station will be restricted.

Mr Nkhuwa said in a ministerial statement that during the first 24 hours of filling up the new dam, Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station’s generation will reduce to 100 megawatts (MW) from 750MW.

He said generation will then be increased to 500MW for the rest of the days.

“As earlier stated, the project (Kafue Gorge Lower) has advanced and the initial phase of power generation will commence soon,” he said.

Mr Nkhuwa said once the dam is successfully filled up, the first two generator units of 150MW each will be switched on.

It is expected that the first unit will be commissioned at the end of November this year while the second unit is expected to be flagged off at the end of next month.

The last three of the five generator units are expected to be switched on in 2021, bringing the total to 750MW.

Mr Nkhuwa said once the 750MW comes on board by March next year, load-shedding countrywide will be a thing of the past.

The minister said if Government had a way of maintaining power generation at Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station while the new dam is being filled, it would have done so. He was responding to a follow up question by Liuwa Member of Parliament (MP) Situmbeko Musokotwane (UPND) on why Government will reduce power generation at Kafue Gorge Upper to fill the new dam instead of ‘allowing the rains to do the work’.

“Everyone will be affected during increased load-shedding and the mining companies have already been informed about this,” Mr Nkhuwa said. He said increased loadshedding during the filling of the new dam will be between eight and 12 hours.

The minister also informed the House that the fire at the Kafue Gorge Lower project site on October 23 this year did not affect works.

Mr Nkhuwa said the accident happened when three workers were assigned to cut some protruding steel bars on the concrete dam.

The minister said the dam wall is still safe, but two workers died of severe burns.

Construction of the Kafue Gorge Lower started in 2016 and is now at 93 percent completion stage.

source: Zambia Daily mail