3-pronged strategy to end load-shedding

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Senior Reporter

Zimbabwe is continuing to overturn the present electricity supply deficit through a three-pronged strategy of encouraging major mining and industrial consumers to build their own power stations, by pushing through the tariff system and encouraging everyone in business and in households to use electricity more efficiently.

Yesterday in a Government-meet-the-media session in Harare, Zesa executive chairman Dr Sydney Gata and Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo outlined how effective measures were being taken to solve the major deficit, some temporary caused by aged equipment in the older part of Hwange Thermal and Kariba inflows well below average.

While refurbishment of the older six units at Hwange Thermal was just starting, that should bring that power station with its two new units up to more than 1 400MW, from less than 1 000MW when all units are available, much of the extra generating capacity would be coming from the private sector

As has been announced already, at least 18 investments into new energy power plants by the private sector will from next year bring more than 4 000 megawatt into the national grid, although some of these private investments are to be commissioned in stages.

Dr Gata laid out the Zesa generation expansion programme involving private investment as well as its own resources.

“We looked at our energy consumption patterns and we found that most of the energy that we struggle to import, or produce is going to corporations that are very competent to supply their own energy.

“I can mention one company that declared US$570 million after-tax profit in this country and yet we were supplying power to that company at a subsidised rate.

“We called in the mining industry and commerce and we said neither the Government nor ZESA had the capacity to build new power plants, but we know that you have the capacity. I am proud to say that as of today, we actually have 18 new power stations, either already under construction or will have commenced construction in 2025.

“These are not plans, these are not licences, these are actual investments. They would aggregate to 4 600 MW when fully built, which is roughly three times our maximum demand at the moment,” he said.

He said by motivating the private sector to share the burden of infrastructure with the Government, the problem of energy deficits had been addressed.

Kariba South which should ideally generate 1 050MW at peak and 600MW to 700MW on average was at present limited to 124MW because of the low flows in the Zambezi after two drought years in southeast Angola, the main source of Kariba water.

Hwange 1 to 6 should be able to generate 800MW, with the new units 7 and 8 adding 650MW. But the six older units commissioned in the 1980s were now on less than half their installed capacity although scheduled for refurbishment.

While there has been focus on other sources of power to reduce the energy deficit through independent power plants, it had taken time to see progress in building these.

“We invested so much faith in independent power plants, power stations that are built by investors primarily for the purpose of selling to the utility or to other customers. The Zimbabwe Government licenced about 104 such projects in the last five years but regrettably not a single one of them has seen the light of day.”

The independents needed the guarantees that what they generated would be bought and it was only recently that this became possible. 

Government has also been pushing for solar energy as well as other renewable energy sources.

Minister Moyo stressed that Government was keen to implement policies that promote energy conservation to ensure the power produced in the country is used efficiently.

“We believe that we are losing a lot of power through inefficient appliances that we are using in the country, through human behaviour. So we want to promote that energy efficiency policy, so that there is conservation of available power that we have in the country.

“We have also come up with policies in the sector to count in the private sector, so that they can participate and the role of power generation is not left solely to the utility,” he said.

The Government-meet-the-media sessions are one of the initiatives being implemented through the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services to ensure that the media is able to disseminate accurate and up-to-date information to the public.

The sessions are expected to be regular calendar events, complemented by tours by journalists to projects being implemented across the country.