ZESCO

AFRICA ZESCO LIMITED

Powering a nation through generation, transmission and distribution of electricity

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KEEPING ZAMBIA

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ater – lifeblood to almost all living things that inhabit earth.

From hydrating humans to powering plant photosynthesis, it is rightly labelled the world’s most precious resource, with rivers, coasts and lakes the focal point of civilizations throughout the whole of human history.

Through time water has taken on a tremendous range of other use cases, not least in the industrialisation

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State-owned ZESCO Limited is charged with powering the nation, operating with a vision to become a regional hub for electricity trading by 2025

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Writer: Tom Wadlow Project Manager: Callam Waller

of society. Its ability to generate power, be it steam when heated or through sheer force of movement, has catalysed socioeconomic advancement all over the world.

And it is the latter, hydrokinetic energy which is proving key to the powering of Zambia’s development.

Landlocked in the heart of Southern Africa, the nation has turned to its rivers as the means to generate the required power to industrialise.

Indeed, of Zambia’s 2,800 MW

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of installed electricity generation capacity, 85 percent is hydro based, and ZESCO Limited is the state-owned body responsible for the vast majority of power generation, transmission, and distribution.

The company was formed in 1970 after the Zambia Electricity Supply Act was passed in parliament.

“This Act brought together the electricity undertakings that were previously managed by the local authorities,” the firm states. “The

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corporation traces its origins to 1906 when a small thermal station was established in Livingstone to serve a small section of the town.”

Today ZESCO is wholly owned by the government, whose Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, and the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development, sit on the organisation’s board.

Mandated to provide safe and reliable electricity in order to improve

the quality of life for all, ZESCO recently reignited collaboration with the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI), the umbrella organisation representing businesses across all sectors of the economy.

Having rekindled their partnership on February 1, 2019, Hazel Zulu, Public Relations Manager for ZESCO, said: “In line with its vision of ‘Being The Hub for Electricity Trading in The Region by 2025’ and mission of ‘Making It Easy for People to Live a Better Life’, ZESCO

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TO MEASURE POWER QUALITY IS TO KNOW.....

And Zambia is now number 1 in the region…

Phone: +46 (0)31-799 02 80 www.metrum.se

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ZESCO has laid the foundation for economic development, for business houses and captains of industry to get on board and utilise the electricity potential available”

has laid the foundation for economic development, for business houses and captains of industry to get on board and utilise the electricity potential available.”

Harnessing hydro

A huge part of this foundation is a series of hydropower projects that, as mentioned, generate the vast majority of all Zambian electricity.

In Southern Province, for example, a 120 MW development has been built as part of a joint venture with TATA Zambia worth $245 Million, a project which is operated by Itezhi Tezhi Power Corporation.

“The hydropower station, which was originally constructed to provide storage capacity for the Kafue Gorge Power Station, is located on the Kafue River some 300 kilometres from the confluence of the Kafue and Zambezi rivers, with both the Itezhi Tezhi Power Corporation Ltd (ITPC) and ZESCO

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having the Itezhi-Tezhi dam as a shared facility,” ZESCO explains.

At the other end of the scale, the Shiwang’andu hydropower station is providing a lifechanging stream of electricity to the people of Chinsali, a town in Muchinga Province and one of the most historic and scenic locations

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in Zambia.

This one MW scheme is a prime example of how ZESCO is looking to use hydro to boost socioeconomic development in rural parts of the country.

On the Kafue River, a primary tributary of the Zambezi River and 55 kilometres upstream of the confluence, the company is developing an enormous 750 MW facility.

The Kafue Gorge Lower Hydro Project is situated 17.3 kilometres downstream of the existing 990 MW Kafue Gorge Hydro Power Station dam site and will be the third largest hydropower plant in Zambia once completed in 2020.

Providing employment to 4,000 people at project peak, the development will also open up opportunities for development in the surrounding area, with surplus power having the potential to supply new business ventures.

Zambia advanced to first place in power quality Power quality is now in large focus in Africa, ensuring economic development and that electricity is available to all people.

Zambia has high ambitions to become the “central energy hub in the region” and with that comes challenges to improve the security of supply, and this work has already started. With the strong regulator (ERB) pushing to comply to the grid code, the utilities took the opportunity and are now proactively improving the supply. The trend is very clear, more and more sensitive equipment is used in the grid and the loads are increasing. If you combine that fact with the plans for installing more renewable energy on the grid, you need to have very strong knowledge and control of the grid’s strength.

Zambia is taking the lead in terms of installed power quality analysers, and Metrum now has nearly 400 measurement points across the country. Now there is great knowledge about the importance of measuring and analysing power quality data from the Metrum system.

Renewable energy the way forward Renewable energy is the way to go but you must not forget the solar panels and wind turbines will pollute the quality of supply of electricity. Maybe you have experience yourself of flickering lights at home, that is a perfect example of bad power quality. It may not mean so much for you individually but imagine what the effects are on industrial

equipment and interconnection points to neighboring countries. This is already well understood in Zambia and with the vast number of analysers installed we can now detect problems on the grid before it becomes a big costly issue. To find the source of the problem and even prevent power cuts to supply a better product to the industries, interconnection points as well as end-users are very important. This proactive mindset is now paying off and more is to come.

Leader in capacity building Metrum has been a long-term competence partner since the very beginning, not only supplying the system but also providing knowledge sharing and training on several occasions every year both in Sweden and locally. It’s very important to build up the capacity and bring the expertise. Metrum has a broad training programme and great connection with the top names in power quality from the academic world.

Artificial intelligence improving power quality Metrum is leader in power quality with new technologies such as artificial intelligence and solutions to predict trends as part of our third generation power quality analysers.

Combined with the most user-friendly system this gives great synergies to our clients in the African market.

“Metrum has a large focus on Africa, and with its population aimed to double by 2050, we will be there to ensure all people will get access to electricity, with good power quality,” says Ola Parnevall, Metrum Business Development Manager for Africa.

T +46 (0)31-799 02 80

www.metrum.se

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Grid guardian

ZESCO is not just about electricity generation, however. The company is also responsible for Zambia’s transmission grid, a highway for electricity delivery across the nation and into neighbouring countries.

“The ZESCO transmission grid comprises transmission lines and substations at 330 kV, 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV voltage levels,” the company explains.

“The backbone of the grid is built on a robust 330 kV system from the southern part of the country where the major generating stations are located through Lusaka and Central provinces to the Copperbelt.”

Export of electricity to African neighbours is an important business for ZESCO, especially during off peak seasons. Key customers during these

periods include Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and Tanzania.

As more hydro projects come online, connectivity to the grid will be vital in ensuring this extra power makes it to the communities and industries that need it.

ZESCO alone cannot modernise Zambia’s electricity grid, however.

A key part of its ongoing work comes in the form of partnerships with private enterprise, for example with Metrum, a leading provider of intelligent measurement systems of power quality.

Designed to avoid downtime and issues with power quality, Metrum’s solutions leverage the power of artificial intelligence and other leadingedge technology to provide full-scale visibility over the quality of power being supplied through a network.

AFRICA GREENCO

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ambia will soon have a new creditworthy intermediary renewable energy power purchaser: GreenCo Power Services Limited (GreenCo).

GreenCo will act as: • Renewable energy creditworthy power buyer and seller: GreenCo buys power from small to medium sized IPPs, on-selling through longterm contracts to utilities and private buyers; it also executes shorter-term trades on the SAPP; • Aggregator of risk and risk capital: Strongly capitalised, GreenCo assumes credit risk of utilities and private buyers, resulting in reduced tariffs; • Operational aggregator of renewable energy supply; • Downside support: Where buyers fail to pay, GreenCo sells to alternative buyers or through SAPP markets; where termination scenarios arise, GreenCo uses its capital structure to cover outstanding commercial project debt in affected IPPs; • Champion of new renewable energy services and innovations for the region in partnership with the public sector.

ZESCO works with many partner companies in order to supply Zambia and neighbouring countries with power

GreenCo will be embedded in the local and regional electricity sector and will be able to take practical steps to diversify and mitigate risk, catalysing sustainable structural market change, and supporting growth of national and regional electricity markets. GreenCo will operate as a member of regional power pools and will mitigate both demand-side and supply-side risks.

GreenCo will help unlock the private capital required to meet Sustainable Development Goals at reduced cost, with less reliance on host government support, and at lower generation tariff to utilities.

Whilst GreenCo will start operations in Zambia, it will provide regional market support and become a renewable energy offtaker in neighbouring countries.

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Grant support from

Addressing creditworthiness to increase generation and growth of renewable energy markets through partnerships and innovative solutions.

Zambia will soon have a new creditworthy intermediary power purchaser for renewable energy projects.

GreenCo is working closely with ZESCO and will act as an aggregator of small and medium size renewable energy projects, improving their bankability, reducing tariffs and attracting new sources of investment.

GreenCo’s vision is to lead innovation and sustainably transform renewable energy markets in Africa Partners

Supported by

info@africagreenco.com | +260 973 802792 | www.africagreenco.com

Lusaka

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Z E S C O

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The company supplies ZESCO with MASEN such instruments, building on work it has already carried out with the likes of Copperbelt Energy Corporation asen was founded in 2010 and Another example of ZESCO’s is a major player in Morocco’s focussed on the mines in the north of involvement in a public overall energy strategy. The Zambia. private partnership is its company oversees implementation Metrum has Swedish origins and of the country’s renewable energy FibreCom business. was founded in 2004 with the intention programme aiming to achieve 52 of creating the next generation percent of the national electricity mix This time the focus is from renewable sources by 2030. of power quality instruments and broadband. FibreCom systems. Now owned by multiple services are available in all As manager of all integrated renewable energy project aspects ranging from stakeholders, including the Swedish 10 provincial centres and generating electricity to contributing government, the company is looking to the surrounding districts of to the local economy and communities, impart its expertise on Africa and help Zambia, offering the widest Masen is transforming natural energy build a reliable energy supply across coverage of fibre optic into power for progress. the continent. connectivity in the country.

Another important collaboration will “FibreCom is strategically come with GreenCo Power Services positioned in ZESCO to Limited, a creditworthy intermediary provide mission critical renewable energy power purchaser. services of power grid The company’s remit is simple – to protection and Supervisory increase private sector investment Control and Data Acquisition in energy generation in Sub-Saharan (SCADA), but also advance Africa by mitigating the credit risks www.masen.ma the deployment of ICT in the associated with the current lack country through the provision of creditworthy offtakers. This is of the backbone network to important for Zambia, as it will bring Building on potential other service providers,” the investment into its ever-growing Such partnerships will be crucial company states. power market and decrease pressure moving forwards, especially given the on utilities companies like ZESCO. scope for Zambia to generate more power.

ZESCO believes there is potential to generate up to 6,000 MW, more than half that currently being produced in the country.

For example, it has highlighted Batoka Gorge on the Zimbabwe border as a site where 1,600 MW could be generated, with further new generation projects identified at Devil’s Gorge (500 MW), Mpata Gorge (540 MW) and Mumbotuta Falls (300 MW).

Through a mixture of state-backed and public private partnership investment, the future certainly looks promising.

A clearly stated goal to become the hub for electricity trading in the region by 2025, if ZESCO can get these Overseas projects are particularly popular projects off the ground then it stands Assessing power quality is vital to avoid outages and ensure a reliable supply to fulfil this bold ambition.

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