COUNTRY focus
Power crisis and the Solar Energy Nexus in Zambia
Zambia is currently facing a severe power crisis . Traditionally , electricity was available in Zambia in abundance from amor tized hydro-power plants at extremely low prices . In the last years , droughts have dried out many damns , which has led to a severe restrictions of power generation capacity . �e mining industry is consuming more than 50 % of the electricity in Zambia . In order to resolve the situation , Zambia begins rationing electricity supply to mines . At the same time , mining is the backbone of the Zambian economy . Many mines are facing additional challenges such as falling copper prices in the world market and changing tax policies in Z a m b i a . Mo r e a n d m o r e m i n i n g companies public think about closing down their mines in Zambia . Currently , mine production is affected by load shedding and power outages . Sometimes the only remedy is the usage of back-up diesel gensets for generating baseload power . �is is extremely expensive . In addition , the power price for mining companies has almost double at the beginning at the year . �e Zambian government has initiated emergency m e a s u r e s a n d b u y s e x p e n s i v e conventional energy from neighbouring countries and private suppliers . At least short-term , the situation is expected to persist as the damns are not lling up signi cantly . New power infrastructure projects are being realized rather slowly while large investments in mining assets in recent years is expected to double the output capacity of the copper mines until 2020 . In 2014 , Zambia had a total power consumption of 10,720.5GWh . Mining was with 54 . 8 % by far the biggest consumer of electricity . Mining consumed more than twice as much electricity as all households together . Electricity prices used to be extremely low in Zambia . Due to low water levels the hydro production has been extremely low in recent years . �e country has to cope with load shedding and power outages . �e mining industry is severely affected . To some extent production decreases of major Zambian mines are linked to missing electricity supply .
Solar energy for powering mines in Zambia �e power crisis in Zambia might be suited for introducing large-scale solar power to Zambia . Mines as the main power consumers might even nd interest to contribute to this development . In light of the mining crisis it does not seem very probable that many mining companies want to invest their own money , however they might commit to long-term power purchase agreements ( PPA ) in order to secure their electricity supply . Solar power
Page14 | Jan - Feb 2016
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