Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
WITH a deficit of about 400 megawatts (MW) of power in the country, the Government is currently working on measures to resolve the electricity challenges facing the country.
The current local generation capacity is 1 280 MW against the current average local demand of about 1 850MW, leaving a deficit of about 400MW. To cover the deficit, the country is currently importing power in the range of 200-500MW.
Cabinet on Tuesday considered and approved the Roadmap to Electricity Self-Sufficiency as presented by the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Honourable Edgar Moyo.
In a post-Cabinet media briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere said the Government has come up with some measures to resolve the operational challenges and implement various power-saving initiatives.
“Regarding measures to resolve the operational challenges, the Government will restructure the power utility company (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)), decommission and repurpose the small thermal power stations, contain technical and non-technical losses and implement various power saving initiatives,” he said.
“In the medium to long term, the Government will embrace Private Sector led Coal Mining Initiatives and new technologies such as green hydrogen, floating solar panels, battery energy storage systems and funding some of the renewable energy projects dotted around the country in order to increase domestic generation of electricity.”
Bongani Ndlovu