| Abstract |
STATUS OF GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION IN ZAMBIA The Zambian government is making efforts to increase the share of renewable energy, apart from hydro power, in the national energy mix. The Country has relied on hydro power, which is susceptible to climate change, for a long time and currently has 2986.23 MW of installed capacity. In the 2015/2016 rain season, the country experienced drought which led to low water levels in the major rivers used for hydro power generation. As a result, the country experienced power cuts which affected production for industries and reduced availability of power for residents. It was at that time that the country doubled its efforts towards the utilization of renewable energy. Geothermal is one of the sources of energy which is being considered for exploitation both for power generation and for cascading uses. The Country has about 80 hot springs which are a manifestation of the possible source of geothermal resources which can be used for power generation. Despite having geothermal potential, the Zambia has no geothermal power plant currently running. In 1986, the Italian company working with the Zambian utility company, ZESCO Ltd, explored and constructed a 220 kW Turboden binary geothermal power plant in the Northern part of the country called Kapisya power plant. The plant has never work to evacuate power. Some of the reasons are that the nearest grid or connection point was more than 100km. The local communities in the area did not have the capacity to utilize the power therefore making the possibility of an off-grid system uneconomical. The country then did not see the benefit of geothermal energy because there was enough water hydro power generation with substantial potential which was not exploited. The plant has since deteriorated to a bad extent, however, efforts to revamp it so that it can use modern technology are being considered. Recently, a private company called Kalahari GeoEnergy has been conducting exploration activities in the Kafue Trough in the Southern Part of the Country. The kafue trough is lies at the intersection of the Zambezi mobile belt and the Mwembeshi shear dislocation zone, a previously highly active tectonic zone. So far the company has drilled exploration wells to determine the potential of finding the resource in the area. The company will be drilling more wells in September 2019 to conclude the feasibility study and the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment brief. The Ministry of Energy is supporting the company in terms of policy guidance and procedure so that the Country can benefit from the base load power that geothermal power plants provide. In addition, the Country intends to create value chains around the geothermal power plant and hotsprings which will utilize the geothermal direct applications such as the geothermal spar, aquaculture, green houses, drying etc. |