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Lusiwasi

Hydro power plant in Central, Zambia. Approximate location -12.9884, 30.8649.

HydroCentralZambia

Lusiwasi is a 12 MW hydro power plant in Central, Zambia. It is operated by ZESCO. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 12,013 homes (estimated). It ranks #14 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).

12MW installed capacity
12,013homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000023.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in Zambia

Kafue Gorge: 990 MW990Kafue GorgeKariba: 930 MW930KaribaItezhi- Tezhi: 120 MW120Itezhi- Te…Victoria Falls: 108 MW108Victoria F…Lusiwasi: 12 MW12Lusiwasi

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by ZESCO. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 13.0°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

18.3°Cannual mean temp
324heating degree-days (base 18°C)
424cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,573 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 19 °CJF: 19 °CFM: 20 °CMA: 19 °CAM: 17 °CMJ: 14 °CJJ: 14 °CJA: 16 °CAS: 19 °CSO: 21 °CON: 21 °CND: 20 °CD21 °C

Heating degree-days here run 87% 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: 18/100 — 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #5 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.

Location

Coordinates -12.9884, 30.8649 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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