By Mwaala Mwenzo
The Beginning—Mulungushi and Victoria Falls
In 1906, a small thermal power plant was set up in Livingstone, marking the introduction of electricity in Northern Rhodesia. A 2-megawatt (MW) power station at Mulungushi just outside Kabwe became the first power station in the country in 1925 followed shortly by two 6MW generators at the same site in 1927. In 1938, another small 8MW hydroelectric power plant constructed on the Zambezi River began producing electricity. Today, Mulungushi hydroelectric power station is rated at 32MW capacity while the Victoria Falls power station has an installed capacity of 108MW from three power stations. In between these notable milestones, several stand-alone thermal plants were developed on the Copperbelt. Mulungushi added another 6MW in 1941 and in 1945, 12MW was commissioned at Lunsemfwa, 47 kilometers from Mulungushi.
Kariba
The lull in new power infrastructure development was more than made up for when in 1960, the world-famous Kariba Dam was opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on 17 May 1960 in front of 3,000 onlookers, after only four years of construction between 1955 and 1959. The dam, which gave rise to the world’s largest man-made lake, Lake Kariba, was hailed as a masterpiece of engineering skill.
Built on the Zambezi River basin’s Kariba Gorge between Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), the Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam whose south cavern – the Kariba South Power Station – for Zimbabwe began operating in 1960, while the north cavern for Zambia took another 16 years to complete. The Kariba North Bank Power Station located in Siavonga District was commissioned in 1976 with the initial four generating units, each rated 150MW, totaling a capacity of 600MW.
The power plant was rehabilitated and expanded over a period of 12 years from 2002 to 2014 (Kariba North Bank Extension) by adding two units of 180MW each and uprating the original four units to 180MW. This increased the power plant’s capacity to the current 1,080MW and it became Zambia’s largest underground power plant.
Kafue Gorge
It was not only Kariba getting the action in the 1960s and 1970s. No more than 100 kilometers from Lusaka, in Chikankata District, the construction of the Kafue Gorge [Upper] Power Station on the Kafue River started in 1967. The first 150MW turbine opened production in 1971, swiftly followed by three units in 1972. Each unit was rated 150MW, hence, the plant’s installed capacity was 600MW. By 2009, two more turbines of the same capacity were added. All six units were then uprated to 165MW bringing the plant’s current nameplate output to 900MW.
Downstream was built the 750MW Kafue Gorge Lower Power Plant, which has five generating units. The first unit was commissioned in 2021 while the remaining four units were commissioned gradually until March 2023. This is the largest greenfield power plant built in modern-day Zambia, as all the other major stations were constructed from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Itezhi Tezhi
Also on the Kafue River in Itezhi Tezhi District, the 120MW power plant is built on the Itezhi Tezhi Dam. Construction started in 2011 and the plant was commissioned in 2015.
Lunsemfwa and Mulungushi hydroelectric power stations in Central Province have a combined generating capacity of 56MW. Mulungushi has a nameplate capacity of 32MW while Lunsemfwa is rated 24MW. The plants have been operating since 1925 and 1941 respectively.
Small Hydros
There are also several small and mini-hydropower plants, typically producing under 20MW, owned and operated by ZESCO and private entities.
Lunzua: first commissioned in 1960, Lunzua Hydro Power Station was in 2015 upgraded from 750 kilowatts (0.75MW) to 14.8MW. Located on the Lunzua River in Mbala, the power station is among the few generating assets in northern Zambia.
Lusiwasi [Lower]: a 12MW hydropower plant downstream of another of the same name. Lusiwasi’s four units were commissioned between 1967 and 1973. The plant is located in Serenje District of Central Province.
Lusiwasi Upper: located about 5 kilometers upstream of the other Lusiwasi, is a 15MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant consisting of three generating units, operational since 2020.
Chishimba: the 6MW Chishimba Falls Hydroelectric Power Station has existed since 1959, starting off at 900kW (0.9MW) and uprated to 1.2MW in 1967. Between 1971 and 1974, the plant was upgraded to the current 6MW capacity. It is located on the Luombe River in Kasama, Northern Province.
Musonda Falls and Shiwang’andu, 10MW and 1MW respectively, are also located in northern Zambia in Mwense, Luapula Province, and Muchinga Province respectively. Musonda Falls was upgraded from 5MW to 10MW and commissioned in 2020. Shiwang’andu mini hydro plant was commissioned in 2012
Zengamina is a 700kW (0.7MW) mini off-grid hydropower plant located in Ikelenge District in North-Western Province near Kalene Hill and operational since 2008. It was built between 2004 and 2008 to serve the local community, principally the Kalene Mission Hospital, as the grid does not extend to the area.
While Zambia is highly dependent on hydroelectricity, some diversity has emerged with thermal and solar power plants beginning to contribute to the power generation and supply complement in just under a decade.
Maamba is a coal plant currently contributing 300MW to the grid. It is located in Southern Province and has been in production since 2016.
Ndola Energy, whose first 50MW phase was commissioned around 2013, currently produces 105MW of thermal heavy fuel oil-powered electricity. 55MW phase two began feeding into the grid in 2017.
Zambia Sugar has, since 2010, produced 40MW of thermal power using biomass (bagasse) at its Nakambala power plant in Southern Province for own consumption.
Copperbelt Energy has 80MW of diesel generation. This capacity is not fed into the national grid.
Dangote Cement produces 30MW from its coal-fired plant at its cement factory in Masaiti.
Under the International Finance Corporation’s Scaling Solar program, Ngonye (34MW) and Bangweulu (54MW) solar power plants were commissioned in 2019. Both are located in Kafue District in Lusaka Province.
Riverside Solar: in 2023, a 33MW solar power plant was commissioned in Kitwe. The Riverside Solar Power Plant was built upon an earlier 1MW pilot, bringing the plant’s capacity to 34MW.
Itimpi: located in Kitwe, Itimpi Solar Power Station is a 60MW plant commissioned in 2024.
Over the years, ZESCO has decommissioned several diesel-powered thermal power plants, which served off-grid customers who are now serviced from other sources.
The Full Picture
In total, Zambia currently has a grid and off-grid installed capacity of 3,777MW from generating assets owned by ZESCO and private developers, including independent power producers. This is how much electricity the country would produce if all its power plants, numbering at least 25, were to operate at their full capacity. However, not all the electricity produced in the country is available to ZESCO or its customers because some of the power stations are off-grid and only serve particular customers.
