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Drought hits hydro-powered Kariba Dam

Published

8 hours ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Kariba Dam was built in a gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe holding back the Zambezi River to create a man-made lake

BBC / Kennedy Gondwe Kariba dam — Kariba Dam was built in a gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe holding back the Zambezi River to create a man-made lake

Despite having the mighty Zambezi River and the massive hydro-powered Kariba Dam, Zambia is currently grappling with the worst electricity blackouts in living memory.

The crisis is so severe that cities and towns across the country are sometimes without electricity for three consecutive days, with people counting themselves lucky if the lights come on for an hour or two.

The power cuts have come as a shock to the 43% of Zambians who are connected to the grid and have taken electricity for granted all their lives.

But one of the severest droughts in decades – caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon – has decimated Zambia’s power-generation capacity.

Nowadays, I sometimes go to bars and restaurants to find people not eating or drinking – they are there just to charge their phones amid the pounding noise of generators.

There is also a booming business of people making money by charging the phones of those without power.

Zambia sources up to 84% of its electricity from water reservoirs such as lakes and rivers, while only 13% comes from coal.

Contributions from solar, diesel and heavy fuel oil are even lower, accounting for 3%.

The drought has been described as “crippling” by government ministers

EPA Local farmer Kaunga Ngoma looks at his maize field affected by drought in Mazabuka, Southern Province, Zambia, 20 March 2024 — The drought has been described as “crippling” by government ministers

For several weeks, the crisis was compounded while the country’s only coal-fired power plant, Maamba Energy, was not operating at maximum capacity as it underwent routine maintenance work.

On Wednesday, there was finally some good news when Minister of Energy Makozo Chikote said the plant was now fully operational, and Zambians would have at least three hours of electricity a day.

President Hakainde Hichilema declared the drought a national disaster in February but the government has been unable to solve the energy crisis because Zambia is heavily reliant on the Kariba Dam for its electricity.

A financial crunch also severely restricted the government’s ability to import power as suppliers wanted payment upfront, though a spokesman for state-owned power utility Zesco, Matongo Maumbi, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa podcast that electricity was being imported from Mozambique and South Africa to ease the crisis, especially in the mining industry – Zambia’s main export earner and source of foreign currency.

Located on the Zambezi, the fourth-longest river in Africa, Kariba was built in the 1950s and is the reservoir for the country’s largest underground power station, Kariba North Bank Power Station. A power station on the other bank serves Zimbabwe.

But because of the drought that has led to parts of the river drying up, only one of the six turbines at Zambia’s power station is operating, resulting in the generation of a paltry 7% of the 1,080 MW installed at Kariba.

The dam retains the water of the Zambezi with a curving wall that is 128m (420ft) high, 579m (1,900ft) long and 21m (69ft) thick.

Engineer Cephas Museba – who has been working for the state-owned power utility Zesco for 19 years – says he has never seen water levels so low at Kariba.

The Kariba Dam is one of the biggest in the world

BBC / Kennedy Gondwe An aerial view of Kariba Dam — The Kariba Dam is one of the biggest in the world

“I think we stopped receiving the rains as early as February. It’s supposed to rain up to April. If we compare the history of this basin, this is the lowest we have received,” he told me.

It has triggered an electricity crisis that is being felt in every business and home.

Some companies are opening for fewer hours, and retrenching staff.

It can even be difficult to find bread – bakeries are making fewer loaves because they find it too expensive to keep generators running.

Fortunately, the government has installed huge generators in some markets, government offices and hospitals, though stories are still being shared on social media of how kidney patients are struggling to cope.

Some patients need to be hooked up to a dialysis machine for up to three hours a day but power only gets restored for about an hour or two, sometimes after midnight.

On other occasions, there is no electricity at all for 72 hours in a row.

On those days, I wear the same clothes as the previous day, rather than a washed but wrinkled shirt that has not been ironed.

Life has become more difficult for everyone.

One day recently, I woke up to be greeted by a foul smell as blood flowed from under the fridge.

All the meat we had bought had gone off and we had to give it to our German Shepherd dog, the happiest member of our household these days.

Kennedy’s dog is the only one benefiting from the electricity crisis in their home

BBC / Kennedy Gondwe Kennedy with his dog — Kennedy’s dog is the only one benefiting from the electricity crisis in their home

The other day I bought relish from a supermarket – but when I opened the package at the dinner table I realised that it was more food for our dog.

My food budget, already tight because of the cost-of-living crisis, is now even tighter. Buying perishable items in bulk at a cheaper price is completely out of the question as they will just rot.

The government has been encouraging homes and businesses to switch to solar, and has scrapped import taxes for solar equipment to make it cheaper to buy.

But some people say their solar panels do not generate enough electricity when there is little sunlight – and they cannot afford to install more panels. Most Zambians cannot afford solar panels at all.

Now, many families have resorted to cooking and heating water on portable gas stoves – but shops have been running out of gas too because of high demand.

So in desperation and because it is cheaper, they buy charcoal to cook and heat water – despite its negative impact on the environment and the climate.

The electricity crisis has also had an impact on the boreholes that middle-class families have dug on their properties.

As boreholes work with electricity and solar-powered pumps, homes are now also without a constant supply of water, making it impossible to even flush the toilet.

In some schools, children are advised to take five litres of water each day to reduce the possibility of a sanitation crisis – and the outbreak of waterborne diseases like cholera, which hit the country at the start of the year.

Many families now fill buckets – or bath tubs – with water, hoping it will last until the lights are back, and toilets can be flushed.

All of this has left Zambians frustrated and angry. They point out that the blackouts highlight the failure of successive governments to plan ahead – something that President Hichilema’s administration has now pledged to do.

Mr Maumbi said that Zesco was investing in more energy sources, including solar plants, so that dependency on hydro-power falls to around 60%.

But Zambia’s focus is not only on green energy – coal is also in the mix.

In July, the energy regulator approved plans to build only the country’s second coal-fired power plant.

It is the dirtiest fossil fuel, producing the most greenhouse gases when burnt, but the government feels that to avoid a similar crisis in the future, it has little option but to press ahead.

Customers face heating problems if meters not replaced

Published

46 seconds ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Customers face heating problems if meters not replaced

Older meters need to be replaced due to the end of the longwave signal

BBC Older style electricity metre hangs on a wall with cables coming in and out — Older meters need to be replaced due to the end of the longwave signal

Around 175,000 Scottish energy customers face major problems with their home heating systems if they do not have their meters upgraded in the coming months.

The Radio Teleswitching Service (RTS) controls energy tariffs for hundreds of thousands of homes, sending signals to store energy via the BBC’s longwave transmitter.

The signal is due to be turned off for good next June but hundreds of thousands of homes have still to be converted to updated systems.

If this does not happen, customers could lose control of heating and hot water, leaving the systems either permanently on or off.

The deadline has already been extended from last March, but energy regulator Ofgem said that work to replace the old infrastructure needed to be accelerated.

Charlotte Friel is its director of consumer protection.

“The pace of replacement is not where it needs to be,” she told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme.

“The industry has been working on RTS replacement for some time and has replaced 200,000 meters this year, but there are still 700,000 to go.

“This call to action is about bringing the industry together and emphasising the pace needed to accelerate the replacement programme, dedicating resources, getting boots on the ground in the right places.”

How do you know you have an RTS meter?

Some customers may be unaware their meters are controlled by RTS. But there are clues.

Ms Friel said: “Typically if your meter switches between on and off-peak rates, if your home is heated by electric storage heaters and if you live in a region that is off-gas supply, these are typical features that could mean you have an RTS meter.”

The RTS switches the meter from on to off-peak mode. Once that signal is switched off it will mean the customer loses control of their heating and hot water.

This could have different outcomes in different households.

In worst case scenarios, it could mean that the heating and hot water is permanently on or permanently off.

Ms Friel said: “Some of the challenge is around getting customers to engage with their suppliers. Not everyone understands the arrangements they are on and we appreciate that.

“It is on suppliers to reach out to customers but they can play their part too by letting engineers in to upgrade their meters.”

She said that the vast majority of cases are straightforward replacements. There will be some more complex installations but Ofgem is confident there is a technical solution for everybody with an RTS meter.

Homes running from the RTS system need to be upgraded to more modern methods before next summer

Getty Images A modern smart meter displaying the number of units used sits on a kitchen counter. A set of keys is on the counter beside it. — Homes running from the RTS system need to be upgraded to more modern methods before next summer

Frazer Scott, from campaigning group Energy Action Scotland, said there were growing concerns around the switch happening on time.

“With the scale of these changes over such a short period of time, we’re really concerned that it’s simply not going to happen,” he said.

“And the consequences are considerable for all those households that might be affected when it’s switched off.”

He added: “It is unacceptable that it is so late in the day with so little certainty.”

Mr Scott said it now felt as though the industry was working together to solve the issue but described it as the “eleventh hour”.

“It is incredibly worrying but at least they’ve finally got together some kind of taskforce and hopefully this will mean there will be an acceleration in this change,” he said.

He said about a quarter of the affected households were in Scotland and the country was “disproportionately affected”.

Mr Scott also called for “proper support” for people in case their heating fails.

“People just want a certainty of supply with a much cheaper cost,” he added.

“What we’re looking for from industry is certainty that people’s bills will not rise as a result of making a meter change, which would seem ridiculous.

“But at the moment we’ve not even got those kinds of assurances from industry, and nor is it clear who will pay for additional costs should a household require them to ensure they have a safe supply to their house.”

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Tesla stock drops 3% after Q3 deliveries fall short of estimates

Published

1 min ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Tesla Q3 deliveries could drive 'further strength' in the stock

Tesla (TSLA) announced third quarter deliveries on Wednesday that slightly missed expectations, sending the stock down about 3%.

The EV maker delivered 462,890 vehicles in the three months ending Sept. 30, up 6.4% quarter over quarter to mark the first quarter of delivery growth this year. The numbers also came in ahead of the 435,059 EVs the company delivered in the year-ago period.

Wall Street had expected Tesla to deliver closer to 463,897, according to Bloomberg.

The Model 3 and Model Y represented the bulk of Tesla’s overall total, with those two vehicles combining for 439,975 deliveries.

Prior to the delivery numbers’ release, Tesla stock had been up around 20% in the past month, fueled by optimism about its upcoming robotaxi event on Oct. 10 and good news coming out of China indicating rising sales there.

But investors have also debated a “notably lower” annual vehicle growth rate, which Tesla warned about after the first quarter.

The company is currently dealing with stiff competition in China from Chinese automakers like BYD and Xpeng. Recent price cuts have also squeezed profit margins as competition intensifies.

Analysts have said next week’s robotaxi event will serve as a pivotal moment for the company’s future and its plans to further utilize artificial intelligence.

“We believe Robotaxi Day will be seminal and historical day for Musk and Tesla and marks a new chapter of growth around autonomous, FSD, and AI future at Tesla,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

Tesla will report third quarter earnings on Oct. 23.

Alexandra is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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