The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
Water levels in Lake Kariba have started rising following increased rainfall activity in its catchment area since the beginning of the year, which bodes well for power generation at Kariba Power Station for 2022, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has said.
According to the ZRA, water levels in Lake Kariba have risen from 478,23 metres recorded on January 7, 2022 to 478,47 metres recorded on January 17, 2022, positioning the lake 2,97 metres above the Minimum Operating Level (MOL) of 475, 50 metres.
The increase translates to 13,4 billion cubic meters (BCM) or 21 percent of stored usable water or live storage.
In a statement, ZRA chief executive officer Engineer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said the authority has allocated 45 BCM to be shared equally between Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Zesco Limited for their respective power generation operations at Kariba during 2022.
“The allocation was, among other factors, informed by the predictions of normal to above-normal rainfall provided by the regional weather and climate experts mentioned above but will be subject to a downward review where the rainfall season turns out to be a drought period to conserve the stored usable water and support power generation operations into 2023,” he said.
“Owing to the delayed onset of the 2021/2022 rainfall season, the authority has cautioned the two power utilities not to generate at higher levels (currently 550MW for each Kariba power station) than that associated with the water allocation made for 2022.
“The authority is now preparing to undertake the hydrological review for the first quarter of 2022 that will further inform the water allocation for power generation operations at Kariba.”
Eng Munodawafa said rehabilitation works that were being carried out at Kariba plunge pool are about to be completed, thereby increasing prospects of increased electricity generation.
“During the last quarter of 2021, ZRA requested ZPC and Zesco Limited to reduce power generation levels for six hours only, on a few selected dates to facilitate cofferdam construction works under the plunge pool reshaping sub-project of the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP),” he said.
“In doing so, the utilities were expected to implement measures that would mitigate the resulting reduction in power generation levels at Kariba. The specific works under the pool reshaping sub-project that called for this need have since advanced and are due to be completed by January 25, 2022, thereby ending the authority’s request to the two power generation utilities.”
Going forward, the remaining works of the KDRP are not expected to reduce generation levels at Kariba Power Station
The KDRP is scheduled to be completed by 2024 and is aimed at assuring the long-term safety and reliability of Kariba Dam.
