Itezhi-Tezhi, Zambia


This piece from Esi-Africa.com is good news for us poor consumers besieged by load shedding in Zambia. For those who have never been there, Lake Itezhi-Tezhi (above) is a beautiful place.

“In December 2012 the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed an agreement with the Zambian government for a loan agreement of US$55 million to support the Itezhi-Tezhi hydroelectric power and transmission line project. This is seeing the construction of a 120 MW hydropower plant at the Itezhi-Tezhi dam along the Kafue River. This loan was approved by the AfDB in June 2012.

Currently Zambia’s power supply stands at about 1,800 MW, and the additional capacity from Itezhi-Tezhi will help reduce load shedding. The project represents one of Zambia’s first public private partnerships in the energy sector. The Itezhi-Tezhi facility, a joint venture between Zesco and Tata, at a cost of US$240 million, is due to be in place in 2016.”

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