In a bid to help Zimbabwe decrease its power deficit, solar power company, Centragrid, is making plans to increase generation capacity to 25 megawatts (MW) by October 2021.
Commenting in a report, Victor Utedzi, founder of Centragrid said: “If we fail to solve these things, we will continue to import power from neighbouring countries. When you import power, you’re also exporting jobs.”
Zimbabwe has one hydropower plant at the lake Kariba and four coal-fired generators with a total combined capacity of 2,240 MW. Between 2018 and 2019 a severe drought reduced the water levels at the Zambezi River where the Kariba South Power Station is situated, triggering poor output.
As of December 2019, the Kariba plant, which generated more than 50 percent of the country’s electricity, could only produce a mere 238 MW, while Hwange Thermal Station the second-biggest power generator, was producing 374 MW. This leaves the country with a massive power deficit that can only be mitigated by expensive imports from Mozambique and South Africa.
Last year, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) processed 39 solar power projects that had the capacity to generate 1,151.87 MW, as the country moved towards renewable energy to increase capacity. The country currently produces nearly 1,000 MW of electricity, which is not adequate enough to meet the demands.
Zimbabwe is the world’s third-largest platinum producer after South Africa and Russia. Gold is its single largest mineral export recording 996,373 ounces of output in 2018. However, regular power cuts have not caused the sector to do better.
Most platinum mines in Zimbabwe import their own power to secure production, while gold mines rely on the weak national grid.
Centragrid
Built by China’s Sinohydro (SINOH.UL), Centragrid’s Nyabira solar plant generates 2.5 MW. It is on a mission to build nine more units of 2.5 MW each, with work due to start in the next three months.
The company hopes to spend $30 million, raised locally and offshore, to scale its plant to 25 MW. However, Utedzi is concerned that Zimbabwe’s foreign currency shortages could dampen interest in the sector.
