Zambia upgrades generation capacity of Kafue Gorge plant

Lusaka, Zambia — ESI-AFRICA.COM — 22 June 2011 – The government of Zambia has decided after initial studies to upgrade the generation capacity of its planned Kafue Gorge hydro-power plant from 600MW to more than 700 MW.

Reuters quotes energy minister Kenneth Konga as saying that, although the final designs of the US$1.5 billion Kafue Gorge lower project have not been completed, output is likely to be more than 600MW.

The construction of the power plant, which was earlier planned for April 2011, would now start this month. Construction of the project would be completed as planned by mid-2016.

Developers are expected to borrow the initial funding of US$1 billion from China, and the remaining US$500 million would be provided by the equity partners.