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Oliver Kazunga and Happiness Zengeni in Victoria Falls—
SADC should brace for increased electricity load shedding between now and 2018 due to lack of investment and implementation of regional power projects, an official said yesterday. Addressing delegates at the Regional Energy Regulators Association for Southern Africa (Rere) in Victoria Falls yesterday, the Southern African PowerPool Coordination Centre manager Dr Lawrence Musaba said energy projects were not properly packaged due to a lack of funding.
“Power deficit in Sadc started in 2007 and at the moment we’re commissioning projects that generate 1,100 megawatts yearly while the demand for energy is rising,
“Before the World Cup in 2010 power demand was 4,6 percent and is now averaging five percent. In between now and 2018 load shedding in the region will continue due to lack of implementation and delays to implement other projects in the region,” he said.
“By 2018, all the countries in Sadc need to have an integrated approach to address power constraints in the region.”
This year, Dr Musaba said the region was expected to commission 2 896MW but with few weeks before the end of the year the target was likely to be missed.
“Our planned generation for the period 2014-2018 stands at 28,000MW. By 2016, we should be getting out of the deficit if the projects are implemented. There’s need for the region to implement the planned projects…”
SAPP was constituted by 12 Sadc member states although the bloc has 16 countries.
“The region has installed generation capacity of 58 Gigawatts and what is available is 51GW,” said Dr Musaba.
He said in terms of transmission the central corridor that include countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique , Malawi and Angola needed to be reinforced.
He noted that participation of the private sector in the energy sector through coming up with initiatives such as bankable power purchase agreements and appropriate levels of electricity tariffs, among others as was critical in the region.
He said the process of assigning priority projects and criteria when agreed by Sapp should be implemented by member states.
Online Reporter