By Patricia Mbewe

Maamba Collieries ltd has relocated its pumps to a new location in the Kariba Lake to provide water essential for the boilers of its 300-megawatt power plant following falling water levels in Kariba.

Maamba Collieries runs two power generating units, with a capacity of 150 megawatts, each of which consumes about 9,000 cubic meters of water a day when running at full capacity.

Low rainfall during the last wet season caused water levels at the primary location of the pump station in Lake Kariba to drop dramatically from the usual 9-metre depths to zero levels leading to the water at the pumps running dry.

Maamba Development Trust Manager Jethro Sikalunda has said in a statement that mindful of the power crisis in the country and the need to generate essential power, the company redeployed its pumps to a new location in order to keep the thermal plant of the country’s largest independent power producer operating at full capacity and avoid further load-shedding.

Mr. Sikalinda however said the water at the temporary pump station set up about 400 meters from the original suction point, also dried up last year, despite dredging efforts to sustain water depths.

He explained that despite dredging, the temporary pumping site also ran dry, forcing yet another relocation of the pumps further up the lake in deeper waters.
PHOENIX NEWS

Source: Zambia Observer

Maamba Collieries in Zambia needs ZESCO to clear outstanding debts owed to the company so it can maintain efficient operations at its 300 MW coal-fired power plant.

Due to a continued shortfall in monthly payments of its power bills by ZESCO, Maamba Collieries (MCL) has not been able to keep up a robust maintenance programme at its modern eco-friendly thermal power plant – which has been contributing significantly to the energy balance of the country.

Read more about mining for coal

The cash flow shortage has resulted in the company being unable to sustain quality proactive maintenance to the 300 MW facility, and the recent forced shutdown of one of its two generation units, halving its power supplied to the national grid of Zambia to 130 MW.

“Maamba Collieries makes a significant contribution to the national grid and provides a vital diversification from the reliance on hydropower that has proved so vulnerable to climate change.

“We stand ready, willing and able to supply significant base load power to Zambia,” says Maamba Collieries CEO, Rear Admiral Venkat Shankar.

“But without payment from ZESCO – our sole source of revenue – we have insufficient funds to pay for costly spare parts and maintenance as also the project dues to our principal equipment supplier whose expertise we depend on, which is not a desirable situation in these times of energy crisis that the country is facing and may face over the next couple of years.”

The company confirmed that one of its two units was forced to shut down on October 17, 2019 owing to technical fault and requires extensive consultations with the equipment supplier.

A statement from ZESCO on October 18, 2019, attributed an additional three hours of load-shedding to the Maamba shutdown.

Typical of the state-of-the-art technology, the power plant requires intensive regular maintenance involving high expenditure for spares, support services from the equipment manufacturers and other maintenance activities.

However, since commencing supplying power in August 2016, there has been a continuous shortfall in monthly payments received from ZESCO against Maamba Collieries’ power bills, explained Rear Admiral Shankar.

The company has not disclosed the amount of funds owed but explained that the payment shortfall has left it with inadequate cash for conduct of operations and maintenance activities. 

“Maamba Collieries considers the emerging situation as being largely attributable to non-receipt of full payments from ZESCO, leading to MCL being cash strapped, which is increasingly beginning to impact the continued running of the plant and its machinery, and its ability to undertake repairs and proactive maintenance.

Under these conditions we are unable to confirm the timeline for resumption of operations of the unit that is shut down or guarantee continued availability of the second unit currently operating,” says Rear Admiral Shankar.

“We are hopeful of ZESCO’s cooperation in meeting our monthly payments, which would ensure that Maamba Collieries will be able to run its plant at full capacity in these difficult times of acute power shortage,” he added.

FOLLOWING a dry spell which has adversely affected almost half of the country in the 2018-2019 rainy season, it has become necessary for power utility firm Zesco to ration the supply of power to its domestic and industrial clients.
Erratic rains have resulted in low water levels at Zesco’s hydropower plants such as Kariba Dam and Itezhi Tezhi.
Cutting back on electricity supply to households and industries will certainly have a negative impact on the economy.
However, it has become inevitable in view of the dry spell. If Zesco had a way, it would not resort to cutting back on electricity supply because this will eat into the power utility’s revenue base.
But this is the consequence of climate change which the country did not bargain for, but should now be planning ahead for. Plans that are already in place must be accelerated.
Now, households, businesses – small, medium and big – will have to come to terms with power rationing otherwise known as load-shedding.
When calamities such as droughts hit us, it reminds the country of the sad reality about the country’s over-dependence on hydropower.
Hydropower generation, despite being the country’s mainstay of electricity, is a risky undertaking due to its vulnerability to climate change.
In 2015, the country experienced a severe energy deficit and crisis on account of low water levels resulting in inadequate power generation.
The country’s hydropower resource potential is estimated at over 6,000 MW. Currently, the installed capacity stands at about 2,700 MW.
Of this, small- and medium-sized power generation accounts for less than two percent.
The country has rich potential in renewable energy resources such as biomass, solar, wind and geothermal, which are currently under-utilised.
That is why there has been emphasis of late for the country to seriously consider having a rich mix of energy sources.
Progress has been made with the thermal plant at Maamba Collieries Limited, built at over US$840 million and generating 300 megawatts which is fed into the national grid.
With the help of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank Group, Government is putting up several solar power projects around the country.
The recent commissioning of the completion of the solar photovoltaic plant for the Bangweulu Power Company Limited in Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone is one of the perfect examples of Government efforts in embracing renewable energy.
There are also a couple of other projects in the pipeline.
However, the task of diversifying sources of energy cannot be left to Government alone. The private sector, too, should come on board if the country is to keep pace with economic growth.
At household level, families and individuals should consider switching to gas stoves as well as installing solar panels to ensure their critical gadgets are operational.
Zesco, on the other hand, should publicise the load-shedding schedule so that all power consumers are aware when they are going to be affected.
The power utility should also ensure that the power rationing should not hamper production levels in industries, farms as well as small and medium businesses remaining in business during the load-shedding period.
Zesco should come up with a win-win situation with industry by ensuring that industry is given power at the agreed time so that there is maximisation of limited resources.

..70% Receivables realized and Debt down by 25%..

The following perspective is in response to certain enquiries from the investors concerning our step down subsidiary, Maamba Collieries Limited, Zambia (MCL).

MCL has been operating an integrated 300 MW (2X150 MW) coal-fired power plant and selling power under a long term Availability Based Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with ZESCO, the local Utility.

ZESCO has been effecting part payments on a monthly basis and bulk payments at different intervals, against power purchase from MCL and Investors will be pleased to know that as on March 31, 2019, MCL has already realized over 70% of the total amounts billed since synchronization of the power plant with the Grid.

We are also glad to inform you that MCL is up to date on all its debt service obligations and the long term debt is down by 25%.

Pdf Link: Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd. – Update On Maamba Collieries Ltd., Our Zambian Step Down Subsidiary