Zambia has agreed to supply power to South Africa to help avoid power disruptions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the head of the state power utility Zesco said on Saturday.
South Africa’s power grid has been under pressure for more than two years and experienced country-wide power cuts early in 2008. State-owned Eskom has said there would be adequate supply for the soccer tournament.
Zesco acting managing director, Cyprian Chitundu said on state ZNBC television Zambia would supply power to South Africa and the quantity would depend on Zambia’s surplus capacity as well demand from South Africa.
“We support each other with South Africa (and) what is going to happen is that when they need some power, we will be able to give them that power,” Chitundu said.
“But I have also realised that we are constrained and so, we are only going to give them power during the off-peak hours when we do not need so much power.”
Chitundu said the Zambia’s decision to export power to Africa’s biggest economy followed a meeting between the two countries last month.
“At that meeting, we showed them our commitment that we will be able to support them,” he said.
Zambia generates 1,400 MW of electricity and consumes about 800 MW but demand rises to 1,500 MW at peak times.
Eskom , which provided 95 percent of the South Africa’s power, Eskom has been rationing electricity since early 2008 when the grid nearly collapsed.
[Reuters]
Eyo, charity begins at home. You can barely keep the whole of Zambia lit.
The most trusted friend RSA has in the Southern African region is Zambia. Zambia paid dearly, economically, during South Africa’s Freedom struggles. And here we are, 20 years after Apartheid, and Zambia is again coming to their aid.
Zambia may be economically inferior to South Africa, but boy! don’t we act like a big brother every time they are in trouble!! It is unfortunate that most South Africans do not realise how much indebted their country is to Zambia.
Imagine, not Mozambique, not Zimbabwe, not Namibia, not Botswana, not Angola, not even Lesotho or Swaziland that have agreed to do this, but Zambia. That says a lot about the relationship between this two countries. And it is about time Zambians in RSA got the respect they deserve than being treated as leches!!!
heheheh wat a joke you yoursleves are in darkness half the time ishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
this is nonsense for the zambian govt how, honestly????
Yambayamba, its because our export tarrifs are so low that RSA can only import from us. If they try Zim, Moz or any other country, their rates will be 3 times higher. However, the same money the Zesco is paid will straight go to them politicians instead of upgrading some old power station to further increase our generating capacity.
And i once read on the news that Customers shud xpect more load shedding. Was just wondering were they are getting all the excess power for them to export.
This has nothing to do with Zambia being SA most trusted friend or Zambia doing SA a favor. It just makes pure economic sense and is in the interest of ZESCO to export excess poor to Eskom. Hydro power can not be stored. This means during the normal/average consumption of power in Zambia at 800MW the extra 600MW is going to waste. It is this excess power that ZESCO will export to Eskom which would have otherwise gone to waste. Zesco has been exporting the excess power in the past not only to SA but to Congo DR in the past. The problem we have is that during peak hr we are unable to meet our domestic demand. So nothing surprising about this arrangement except that this time around Eskom sought assurance from Zesco that they will supply the the excess as they have done before 4 the worldcup
Probably the only meaningful contribution Zambia will make to the world cup despite it being held in our backyard.Can ZESCO please Eskom to brand the power that will be supplied by Zambia!? – GENERATED IN ZAMBIA, at KARIBA DAM and VIC FALLS Hydro electric power stations. Maybe only then can we get some airplay and have some more of the tourists we are always crying for visit Zambia. ha ha!!
You lie Chitundu! Do you ever have surplus?
ESKOM i not taking this power for nothing, they are paying for it so stop pretending like its all Sata Klaus to Zuma.
Zesco ibupuba bwenu every day in our homes there is no power. how come you want to export power now.Mwefipuba iwmwe
Suddenly we even ve enaff power to export.-Intresting.
firstly South Africa has first world power supply,they have nuclear power plants,coal powered plants,numerous hydro plants,so tell me those who’ve been to RSA will recall that never have they had a pwercut,so this is an excuse to juice south africa is all lies,these guys take Zambians for granted and we are not taking it lying down…
What surplus power has Zambia got? This is just the silly way Zambia has always adopted for a long time. During UNIP days we used to export nearly all the sugar and mealie meal to neighbouring countries leaving our own people struggling and even dying on queues for the little that remained. Now we have the annoying load shedding and some sick Zesco manager in the name of Chitundu wants to supply the little we have to SA for the sake of football in which we are not participating. We are not even co-hosts with SA and when they bid to host this thing they did so because they thought they had the capacity to meet all the requirements including power supply. I suspect some kick-backs here are the main idea.
wrong picture why show us glass wine when most of homes in Zambia are in darkness, that Zesco manager is very stupid
its biblical, those that have less will have it taken away and will be given to those that have. so we are taking the little power available in zambia and bringing it to RSA so that some of us can watch the world cup without any power interruptions. why do you need power any way? every house hold in zambia has a baula. secondly you wont be watching the world cup live, you can watch it any other time.
#15, Are you a Zambian, your comments suggest otherwise. You seem to demeam Zambians for using mbaulas and it’s not fair.
So lemme get this straight. We experience powercuts everyday and we will somehow have surplus power to export? How will this happen? We are in the same time zone as SA. Which means our peak periods are the same! We wil be in darkness in the name of not embarrassing Africa so that SA can have power. How irresponsible is this?
And I think #15 pretty much sums up the thinking at Zesco for them to have signed this agreement
Zesco is unable to supply power to Zambia without problems, I wonder how they will be able to assist SA. # 15 If our houses are connected why should be be using baula?? Pls try to be fair and dont be too excited home is home. U will visit one day and will see how Zesco is making us suffer with their bad service.
One gets the impression from the story that Zesco will save the South African electricity supply from collapse by supplying all the surplus 600 MW during the World Cup. The installed capacity in South Africa is about 40,000 MW and 600 MW is a miniscule 600/40000 = 0.015 or 1.5%. We should also bear in mind that our maximum demand is in June. Zesco is there likely to supply less than the 600 MW. Let us not make a mountain out of a mole hill. Yes in the Zambian context it is a lot of power because this equivalent to the proposed Kafue Gorge lower.
why is it our government finds it so difficult to say ‘NO’!
what a joke sure, how honestly do you feed your neighbour when you, your selves are in desperate need of food?
Is this world cup in SA also form of an investor coming to zambia? or what? we need serious pipo to run these companies.
See how stupid some people can be?
Africa has the potential to develop but it can not do so without electricity. Africa can not go on developing “tutemba twa ma hydropower stations e.g Kafue Gorge Lower (600-750 MW) when it can develop the 40000 MW on the Congo River (Zambia contributes some of the water). Eskom have expressed interest in the 40000 MW Grand Inga Dam. “The Inga project is one that really excites us because we believe that in one fell swoop we could address the bulk of Africa’s needs and do it in a manner that is clean and environmentally friendly, by harnessing run-of-the-river hydroelectricity as opposed to damming up a river,” former Eskom’s Khoza said. A run-of-the-river is a project that uses the water in the river without a big dam. This is an example of Africa’s natural resources which go…
# 16 dont hate the playa, hate the game. i am not the one exporting power to RSA. i just live there. i just want to watch the world cup without power interruptions, its unfortunate mother Zambia has to bear the consenquences, reason is that the zambians have accepted the situation by buying mbaulas as opposed to putting pipo with reason in power. besides ESKOM is paying for inconvieniencing you
#25 In this case I would say neither the game nor the player should be hated. ESKOM had the option to choose from several electricity suppliers from other neighbouring countries but decided to work with Zambian suppliers. From a marketing perspective, this is a strong vote of confidence for ZESCO.
Imwe bantu mwilaba childish. Eskom buys power from Zambia, Mozambique, DRC and Zimbabwe. Its not like they have only one deal with Zambia. Just like Zambia buys from DRC, RSA Zimbabwe. Its just trade like any other.
NO 27. Atleast you see things for what they are. This is what I labored to explain to the bloggers in #6 above but it seems Zambian are in denial over Zambia’s standing (or lack of it) in the region and will grab at anything that will give them a sense of self worth. There is nothing exceptional or strange about this arrangement btwn Zesco and Eskom. Been done before and continues to be done amoung the different power generating companies in the region
If there is a surplus of power, then why are parts of Zambia experiencing power outages on a regular basis? I wonder how many more Zambians will be in the dark during the World Cup because its power is being channeled elsewhere.Bottom line is this, if South Africa was worried about power issues then they shouldn’t have bid for the 2010 World Cup in the first place! In my opinion, a country that cannot stand on its own two feet without help from another country shouldn’t be hosting such events.
ZESCO is run by non brainers or theives who want to come out like non brainers. First of all load shedding goes on everyday, for days around zambia. you would expect the bill to be as low as K50,000 a month as you barely put on the TV and no lights but households are hammered with big bills monthly, which they should pay or else. in the mean time our ZESCO are busy selling power to other countries, so they are selling the power which is meant to be for Zambia to other countries and instead of cutting the bills for no power they collect from over estimated bills and what they are selling. If that is no illegal or stealing then i dont know what is.
Am sorry Zambians but if you dont wake and say enough to this nonsense NO ONE will do it for you….contd
They are too many power shots involved in this and thats why ZESCO will remain the only power company, with the same load shedding bull for many many years to come. There are so many red tapes to having a power company in Zambia that most investors just give up before its in the pipeline, why do you think?
Demand action. Even in households, if a husband knows he can do what he likes and get away with it cus the wife is not bothered to set rules of whats acceptable and not, he will carry on just like that. And that wife should not complain to anyone as its only her to blame. But a husband who knows a wife’s fury will know 1AM is curfew, when you say you do this at this time you will need to do it otherwise there is hell to pay. Lets wake up guys, no more to this bull, ITS ENOUGH!