Water supply and demand scenarios for the Zambezi river basin

The document argues that climate change significantly threatens hydropower potential in the Zambezi River Basin, requiring that climate data be integrated into project planning to ensure financial viability. It highlights a need for better coordination of investment and operation as four to five new plants are expected in the next 10-15 years, suggesting that linking water modelling with regional energy system models would better clarify economic and environmental trade-offs.

• Climate change has significant potential impacts on hydropower potential in the Zambezi River Basin, necessitating its explicit consideration in project planning and overall system expansion planning. This is particularly critical for future plants to ensure financial viability and the ability to make loan repayments, which rely on stable generation and sales revenue.
• Current investment and operational decisions in the basin are not coordinated as effectively as possible despite increasing cooperation. This lack of coordination is expected to become more complex with the addition of four or five major new plants planned for the basin over the next 10-15 years.
• To better understand the real costs of climate change and the trade-offs between energy, water, and economics, water modelling should be linked to a regional energy system model and utilize the most recent climate scenario data.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2016). Water supply and demand scenarios for the Zambezi river basin. https://cdkn.org/resource/water-supply-and-demand-scenarios-for-the-zambezi-river-basin

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Water supply and demand scenarios for the Zambezi river basin. 2016. https://cdkn.org/resource/water-supply-and-demand-scenarios-for-the-zambezi-river-basin.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Water supply and demand scenarios for the Zambezi river basin |date=27 January 2016 |url=https://cdkn.org/resource/water-supply-and-demand-scenarios-for-the-zambezi-river-basin |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2016water, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Water supply and demand scenarios for the Zambezi river basin}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2016}, month = jan, url = {https://cdkn.org/resource/water-supply-and-demand-scenarios-for-the-zambezi-river-basin}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }