Zambia will import electricity from South Africa starting next month to help plug a severe deficit that’s causing daily power cuts lasting about eight hours, according to the acting managing director of the power utility in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.
State-owned Zesco concluded talks with South Africa’s Eskom Holdings last week to buy as much as 300 MW for six months, Webster Musonda told reporters in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. The country has a shortfall of 700 MW, about a third of peak demand, after drought curbed output at the hydropower stations that it depends on for 80% of generation.