Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station (KGL), is a hydroelectric power station under construction in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

Location

The power station is located along the

Kafue River The Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia at about long. Its water is used for irrigation and for hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it is the most central ...

, between the

Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station The Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station (KGU), is an operational hydroelectric power plant across the Kafue River in Zambia. Location KGU is located on the Kafue River, approximately , by road, south of Lusaka, the capital and largest city in Za ...

upstream and the confluence of the Kafue River with the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

downstream. The power station is located approximately , by road, south of

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

, Zambia's capital city. The geographical coordinates of Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station are:15°53'46.0"S, 28°33'33.0"E (Latitude:-15.896111; Longitude:28.559167).

Overview

As of 2017, according to

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

, Zambia had installed generating capacity of 2,800 megawatts. Of these, 2,380 megawatts (85 percent) was hydroelectricity. Peak electricity demand in Zambia has been recorded at 1,960 megawatts, with growth in electricity demand estimated at between 150 MW and 200 MW every year. Approximately 70 percent of national electricity output is consumed by the country's mines in the

Copperbelt Province Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immed ...

. In October 2015, after the requisite feasibility and environmental studies, the engineering, procurement and construction contract was awarded to

Sinohydro Sinohydro ( Chinese: 中国水电; long form: 中国水利水电建设集团公司) is a Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering and construction company. In the 2012 Engineering News-Record Top 225 Global Contractors, a ranking by annual rev ...

, the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

hydropower engineering and construction company. The contract price is reported as US$2 billion, with 85 percent borrowed from the Exim Bank of China, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The government of Zambia will invest 15 percent into the project, using their own money.

Construction

Construction of the power station began in November 2015. As of July 2019, the contractor expected to conclude during the fourth quarter of 2020. During construction, over 3,000 jobs were created. In September 2019, construction of the dam and power station were halted due to financial difficulties. In July 2021, one of the five turbines (Turbine Number 2) was commercially commissioned to supply 150 megawatts to the Zambian national grid.

Funding

The below table summarizes the funding sources for the power station alone, without the related power line, road and other infrastructure.

Operations

The power generated will be evacuated via a 330-kilovolt transmission line, measuring approximately to Lusaka, for integration into the national power grid.

References

External links

Construction of hydro power station at Kafue Gorge suspended
As of 11 September 2019.
Feasibility Study of the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydroelectric Project
As at 18 August 2010. {{Authority control Power stations in Zambia Chikankata District Hydroelectric power stations in Zambia