• Zambia currently has installed capacity of 3, 456 megawatts.
• National demand stands at 2, 300 megawatts.
• The country has about a thousand megawatts of excess capacity.
Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has assured the nation that the export of power to other countries will not affect Zambia’s electricity supply.
Speaking when he featured on BBC’s Focus on Africa, Board Chairperson Reynolds Bowa stated that Zambia currently has installed capacity of 3, 456 megawatts while national demand stands at 2, 300 megawatts.
Engineer Bowa said this means that the country has about 1, 000 megawatts of excess capacity, which is being exported to neighboring countries that include Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and Namibia.
“We are now in a situation where we have 3, 456 megawatts of installed capacity and our national demand is around 2, 300 megawatts, so we have about a thousand megawatts of excess capacity and we are only exporting what is excess to our neighboring countries.”
“We are supplying currently at least three of our neighboring countries which are DRC, Zimbabwe and Namibia,” Engineer Bowa said.
He added that Hydropower is the country’s natural endowment and constitutes about 85 percent of Zambia’s generation capacity.
“We do however have about 400 megawatts of hydro power and another 130 of solar power and we continue to grow those other areas of generation,” he stated.
When South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the energy crisis in his country on Monday, he outlined sweeping plans to deal with a prolonged energy crisis and he looked towards Zambia for a solution.
