Zambians are grappling with a daily battle to secure electricity amid a climate-related energy crisis. The situation has reached a critical point, with some individuals resorting to transporting their desktop computers to local cafes just to get work done.
The severe drought affecting the region has led to the worst electricity blackouts in Zambia’s history. This has severely impacted the Kariba Dam, a crucial source of energy for the country, as it lacks sufficient water to power its hydroelectric turbines. Currently, water levels are so low that only one of the six turbines on Zambia’s side of the dam is operational, reducing generation to less than 10% of its normal capacity. With Kariba supplying over 80% of the national electricity, Zambians are now lucky to receive just a few hours of power each day, while many areas experience outages lasting several days.
Kariba, the largest man-made lake in the world by volume, is situated 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Lusaka, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam wall, constructed in the 1950s, was intended to transform the countries’ energy supplies by harnessing the waters of the Zambezi River, creating a vast lake, and providing a continuous source of renewable hydroelectric power. However, months of drought intensified by the naturally occurring El Niño weather pattern and rising temperatures have pushed Zambia’s hydroelectric station to the brink of a complete shutdown for the first time.
