Kariba is a 930 MW hydro power station in Mashonaland West, Zambia. It is operated by ZESCO. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 931,062 homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 15 Zambia power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 86.2% of Zambia's electricity; the national grid averages 120 gCO₂/kWh (87.5% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000021.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by ZESCO. All plants by this company →
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 16.5°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 100% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 13/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
The #2 largest hydro power plant of 5 in Zambia by capacity.
Zambia has 5 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 2,160 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -16.5222, 28.7619 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
