(3 Minutes Read)
Zambia’s worst electricity blackouts have been caused by a severe drought in the region that has left the critical Kariba dam, the source of Lake Musonda’s woes, with insufficient water to run its hydroelectric turbines.
Zambians are facing a daily struggle to find electricity during a climate-related energy crisis. The situation has come to such a knot that some Zambians are so exasperated that they’ve taken to lugging their desktop computer to a local cafe so they can work.
Zambia’s worst electricity blackouts have been caused by a severe drought in the region that has left the critical Kariba dam, the source of Lake Musonda’s woes, with insufficient water to run its hydroelectric turbines.
Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world by volume and lies 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Lusaka on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The massive dam wall was built in the 1950s. It was meant to revolutionize the countries’ energy supplies by trapping the water of the Zambezi River, turning a valley into a huge lake, and providing an endless supply of renewable hydroelectric power. Months of drought brought by the naturally occurring El Nino weather pattern and exacerbated by warming temperatures have put Zambia’s hydroelectric station on the brink of completely shutting down for the first time.
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The water level is so low that only one of the six turbines on Zambia’s side of the dam can operate, cutting generation to less than 10% of normal output. Zambia relies on Kariba for more than 80% of its national electricity supply, and the result is Zambians have barely a few hours of power a day at the best of times. Often, areas are going without electricity for days.
