Minister Samuel Undenge
Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWEANS will continue to enjoy uninterrupted electricity supply as government’s efforts to ensure constant power supply start paying dividends, Energy and Power Development Minister, Samuel Undenge, said yesterday.
The country last experienced load shedding in December last year.
Minister Undenge said the government would augment electricity from diesel powered generators to be installed at Dema Substation in preparation for high power demand from domestic consumers and wheat farmers in winter.
He said the Mutare emergency plant also running on diesel or gas, would add 120MW to the national grid and the tender was won by Helcraw Electrical (Pvt)Ltd.
Speaking at the Joint Command and Staff Course number 29 at Staff College in Harare yesterday, Minister Undenge said 2016 was a “transitional year” and there would be no load shedding.
“Although power generation at Kariba has been reduced to an average of 285 megawatts, you might have noticed that since the beginning of the year, there has not been any load shedding.
“If you’ve experienced any power cuts during this period, this was due to some faults on the system. This might appear as fiction to you as you had become accustomed to long hours of load shedding. I want to assure you that we’re working tirelessly to maintain this situation, (and) 2016 is likely to be a transitional year of no load shedding”.
He said it took some time and a lot of effort for government to deal with power outages.
Minister Undenge said government increased power imports from South Africa and Mozambique and ensured high level power generation at the four thermal power stations including Hwange to supplement limited generation capacity at Kariba Hydro Power Station.
He said some large power users embarked on energy efficiency improvements thereby releasing 25MW to other consumers.
Sable Chemicals released 40MW since they no longer use the old energy intensive technology of electrolysis in the production of ammonium nitrate.
Minister Undenge said the successful implementation of Zim-Asset needed all key economic enablers such as power to be in place as enshrined in the 10-point economic plan enunciated by President Robert Mugabe recently.
For quick economic growth, there is a need for infrastructural development, particularly in the Energy, Water, Transport and ICT sectors.
“With reference to Zim-Asset, you will agree with me that energy is the main enabler for the attainment of the set goals. We are therefore making every effort to increase its availability. The capacity demand forecast for us to achieve Zim-Asset targets is about 3,000MW,” said Minister Undenge. He said in order to achieve the above capacity, government identified short-and long-term solutions that were now being vigorously pursued.
These are: the emergency diesel generators and the repowering of the Bulawayo thermal station where the government has already secured $87 million from the government of India which will add 60MW to the grid.
This project will be operating full throttle in the next 24 months. Other measures are: repowering of the Harare power plant at a cost of $70,2 million whose tender was awarded to an Indian firm and financial modalities will be concluded soon. The project is expected to take 24 months to complete and will add 90MW to the the national grid.
The other project is the Munyati power plant which is expected to add 70MW to the grid and construction will also last 24 months.
Minister Undenge said the medium term main projects include the extension of the two existing power plants at Kariba and Hwange and the installation of up to 300MW solar plants.
Kariba Hydro Power Station is already being extended with the installation of an additional two units, which will provide 150 MW each and are at 40 percent completion stage with the first and second units expected to be complete by the end of 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Minister Undenge said Government was also involved in a number of power projects like the 2400MW from the Batoka hydropower plant, Gwanda (100MW) and the Gairezi project that would add 30MW.
He said a number of Private Sector Independent Producers (IPPS) have been licenced, the major ones being the 600MW China Africa Sunlight Energy plant at Gwayi, the 600MW southern energy thermal station at Hwange, the 600MW Lusulu thermal power station in Binga and the 2400MW Sengwa thermal power station at Gokwe.