By MUBANGA LUCHEMBE
AS Zambia deals with its worst drought in 20-years, businesses and households are going for days without electricity. Experts say the severe energy crisis could worsen the country’s already fragile economy and lead to massive job losses. On an average day, millions of people across the country are enduring up to 21-hours of power-cuts, locally known as load-shedding.
The Zambia Association of Manufacturers president, Mr Ashu Sagar lamented that his members have not been spared by the energy crisis.
Mr Sagar also lamented that big companies were struggling with the cost of running alternative diesel-powered generators, while smaller companies have no energy source at all.
He added that some of the association’s members have failed to meet contractual obligations with buyers due to the drought-induced energy crisis.
So, the impact on the manufacturing sector is quite big in that small companies that probably could have no capacity to invest in alternative energy solutions like diesel generators have had to curtail their manufacturing operations. Worsened by climate change and the El Nino weather pattern, the energy crisis threatens national food security, water and energy supply, President Hakainde Hichilema admitted this, earlier this year, in his state-of-the-nation address to Parliament.
At the time of writing, sporadic fuel shortages in some parts of the country had entered the second week, with most filling stations in metropolitan cities of Kitwe, Ndola and Lusaka evidently running out of petrol, despite assurances from the Energy Regulations Board (ERB).
The ERB reported that as of October 11, 2024, Zambia had over 8.25 million litres of petrol in depots and retail sites, sufficient to meet national requirements.
However, the situation on the ground contradicted the ERB’s pronouncements, with motorists facing long queues, posing a disruption to business.
The Oil Marketing Companies Association of Zambia attributed the shortages to OMCs allegedly hoarding fuel in protest of the recent downward price adjustment whereas the ERB attributed the situation to logistical challenges in the transportation of the commodity through neighbouring Zimbabwe.
So, what do local energy think-tanks suggest Zambian policymakers in the Ministry of Energy should do to avert the current energy deficit and what are the solutions to have cheaper efficient and available energy in Zambia?
Some local energy think-tanks suggested: One, policymakers in the Ministry of Energy must formulate strong policies that look at long-term development of strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) projects-of-stockpiles for fuel by using the abundant quarry, coal and copper mines that for decades-on-end have been falling into disuse in the country as an incentive.
Two: Simplify the procedures for companies, whether regional, local or foreign, to invest in the sector by providing very attractive incentives and support.
Three: Most importantly, by making sure a certain portion of the SPRs is dedicated to supporting companies who invest in long-term energy stockpiles and projects.
It is just not good enough to say the Zambian government has an attractive investment code in place and then leave the investor alone to fend for himself; a government must in different ways act to make sure the investor’s goals are achieved.
Meaning that policymakers should not interfere with investors’ business but rather, make sure unnecessary red tape is addressed. Lastly, our country must have at least strategic reserves for six-months for both crude and refined products, as energy security is the biggest threat to any country in the world and Zambia is no different. The nation must also look at using abandoned disused quarry, coal and copper mines for generating power as they are the cleanest methods, cheaper and safer.
For now, an important question remains: Is the Zambian motoring public sceptical about the country’s ability to have six months’ worth of SPRs of both crude and refined products?
The government can draw lessons from the United States that has historically tapped into its SPR following man-made accidents, economic crises, and natural disasters. Strategic reserves are stockpiles-of-crude oil that have already been extracted and can be promptly refined into fuels.
The United States SPR is located in four vast salt dome caverns along the Gulf Coast. Created in response to the oil crisis caused by the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, the SPR received its first shipment-of-crude in 1977.
In a similar manner to this, Zambia’s abandoned disused opencast mines could be reused by Tazama Pipeline to store refined fuels, while Indeni Oil Refinery’s capacity to store and process cheaper yet-to-be imported-feedstock crude from oil-rich neighbouring Angola by rail/pipeline could be rejuvenated.
As SPRs can help any country weather a sudden and temporary disruption in supply after a natural disaster, accident, or the imposition of economic sanctions.
Additionally, Zambian-based transnational mining companies can also draw lessons from Sweden-based sustainable power transition enabler Mine Storage cofounder and CEO Thomas Johansson who noted that the company’s concept of using abandoned underground mines – or those under care and maintenance – as energy-storage facilities had progressed to the prefeasibility phase.
Mr. Johansson suggested that in principle, mine storage is a closed-loop system, which does not actually use or deplete water.
This bodes well for countries like Zambia subjected to water scarcity or restrictions because of drought.
Energy is stored by pumping water from the bottom of the mine to a higher elevation using pumps powered by electrical energy from the national grid and thus increasing the potential energy of the water.
The energy is stored by keeping the water in the upper reservoir and can later be released by having the water flow down to drive turbines and generators so that electricity is transmitted back into the national grid.
The main requirement for an underground mine energy storage solution is two reservoirs with a minimum difference of 50-metres in elevation, which is easily achievable in almost any underground mine.
Despite all this, yet Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane recently proclaimed in Parliament that, Government would lose investments if it compelled mines to generate part of the power they consumed.
Dr Musokotwane added that some transnational mining companies only had money to invest in the mines and not for generating electricity.
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