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Inter-BasinWater Transfers
Energy Resources
Several riparian countries have identified
potential projects transferring water to or from
the Zambezi basin to meet various demands.
Botswana, for example, is planning to use
water from the Zambezi basin for domestic
and industrial use within and outside the basin.
This project, called the ‘Zambezi Water Transfer
The estimated hydropower potential of the
Zambezi River is in the order of 20 000 MW of
which only 4 684 MW has been developed (Hirji
et al.
2002). About 40 possible new hydropower
plants with a total installation capacity of more
than 13 000 MW have been identified in the
basin. About 85 per cent of this capacity is on
the Zambezi River itself while the remainder
is on its tributaries. Close to half the mapped
potential is in Mozambique, about 25 per cent
in Zambia and about 20 per cent in Zimbabwe.
A little more than five per cent of the potential
is divided between Angola, Malawi and
Tanzania (SARDC 2008).
Cahora Bassa, Kariba and Kafue hydropower
stations, and Hwange coal power station are
some of the electrical power suppliers in the
Scheme’, is in the conceptual phase (SADC
and ZRA 2007). The Bulawayo–Matebeleland–
Zambezi Water Supply Project in Zimbabwe
is at its feasibility stage. Although Bulawayo
is outside the basin, further water supply to a
larger area of Matebeleland may become inter-
basin transfer with the Limpopo Basin.
Zambezi basin. These power stations feed
into the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP),
which was inaugurated in 1995 (O’Leary
et
al.
1998) to create a more efficient regional
market for electricity. The power pool was
created as a common power grid because of
the distribution of power sources in southern
Africa, with a large reserve of low-cost
hydroelectricity in the northern part, especially
the Inga Reservoir in the Democratic Republic
of Congo and the Cahora-Bassa Reservoir in
Mozambique. Other factors that led to the
establishment of the power pool are the large
reserves of thermal power in South Africa and
the hydropower from the Kariba Dam on the
border between Zambia and Zimbabwe which,
being in the middle of the regional system,
plays the “buffer” role.
NAMIBIA
ANGOLA
BOTSWANA
ZAMBIA
ZIMBABWE
MOZAMBIQUE
TANZANIA
MALAWI
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Zambezi River Basin electrical infrastructure
Power plant
Main infrastructures
Power line
Source: SAPP, AfDB 2009. Africa’s Intra-Regional, Inter-Regional And Inter-Continental Electricity Trade-Technopolitico-Economic Aspects And Future Prospects NEPAD-OECD, Africa Investment Initiative, African Development Bank, Johannesburg
Figure 3.3