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Zambia needs more power stations, says Chitundu

Zambia needs more power stations, says Chitundu
By Kabanda Chulu and Tilyenji Mwanza
Wed 13 June 2012, 13:23 CAT

THE long-term solution to the massive load shedding being experienced is to build additional power generating stations in the country, says Zesco managing director Cyprian Chitundu.

And Chitundu has asked Zesco employees to improve their performance and ensure prompt responses to customer complaints to enhance service delivery following the handover of operational vehicles and other equipment to the power utility.

Speaking to journalists after distributing the vehicles to Zesco divisions and power stations in Lusaka yesterday, Chitundu said Zambia has not built a single power station in the last 40 years.

"It is not true that we didn't foresee this situation of having increased demand during winter…electricity is a dynamic product. As we speak, the customers we had yesterday are different from the ones we have today because every day more customers are added onto our network and the problem we have is that of fixed amount of power supply," Chitundu said.

"It is just like at home, when single, you buy a loaf of bread and when you get married and you have children, you can't expect to eat the same portions you have been used to eating. Similarly, as a country we have not built a single power station during the last 40 years but demand has been increasing and as Zesco, we are constructing new ones starting with extension of Kariba North Bank which will result in adding 360 megawatts to the national grid by next year and then we shall focus on Kafue Lower and Itezhi-tezhi. These projects take long, about five years but customers want to be connected to power today thus putting pressure on our network."

He said load shedding could be reduced in the short term if customers comply with proposed energy saving measures, especially during peak time of early in the morning and around 18 hours.

"In the cold season, there is an increase in the usage of all sorts of heaters and we have noticed that this is also peak period of wheat irrigation and yesterday (Monday) we had a problem at Kariba North where one generator developed a fault but we repaired it and subsequently we had another fault at Luano near Chingola where a transformer developed a fault," he said.

"In three weeks time, we shall have fourth generator at Kariba to help us push sufficient voltage on our network to solve this insufficient voltage leading to our inability to push power within our network and we are also procuring a transformer from in India that will be installed at Luano."

During handover of vehicles, Chitundu said Zesco has this year invested K66 billion to procure vehicles in order to serve customers better.

"We need reliable transport in order to respond effectively to issues of faults and connections and we want these problems to be a thing of the past," said Chitundu.

Labels: CYPRIAN CHITUNDU, ENERGY, LOAD SHEDDING, ZESCO

posted by MrK @ 2:21 PM