Demand for electricity rises

Ray Bande recently in NYANGA

Electricity demand is rising as a direct result of the upsurge in the economy and to meet this accelerating demand, Government, besides pushing ahead with new Zesa generation is facilitating the ease of doing business for independent power producers to add their extra capacity.

In a wide ranging interview on the sidelines of a five-day third-quarter strategic planning and performance review workshop held recently in Nyanga, Minister for Energy and Power Development, Soda Zhemu told The Herald that IPPs are an important component of the country’s power generation and incentives are needed to ensure they build their stations.

“Independent power producers are partners to the Government in the provision of electricity. You will notice that there is tremendous growth in demand and also through the mantra by the President Zimbabwe is open for business, there has been new demand that has been registered by many consumers. “So what we are finding out is that, even from the projects that are lined up by the Government with the new capacities that have to be developed and the rehabilitation that has to take place, we still see that there is need for participation of the private sector. That refers to the independent power producers who could be running their power stations on thermal or on renewables. “So, they are a vital participant and stakeholder in the provision of electricity in this country. To that end, we have also offered a variety of incentives, through Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA). When an IPP gets into Zimbabwe all the coordination, all the permits and compliance requests would be handled by ZIDA. So to us it is one of the incentives because instead of hustling to and fro all that can be now be coordinated or handled at a one-stop shop,” he said.

Minister Soda said investors in power generation are also being given tax holidays as well as having duty removed from equipment being brought into the country.

“When an investor comes and invests in the country and brings equipment into the country there are some duties that they are not supposed to pay. And all that is happening as a way of encouraging investment, especially for renewable energy components, the batteries and solar panels are all coming in duty free. We also have some tax holidays that we are offering,” said Minister Soda. Net metering has also been introduced as a way to incentivise independent power producers generating for their own needs. Under net metering a user installing solar panels can sell excess when the sun is shining and buy when it is dark, and the net balance is paid to ZETDC or paid to the producer.

“The other incentive is net metering where we are encouraging everyone with a solar system on their rooftop, who is both a producer and consumer, whom we call a prosumer, should benefit from producing power.

“The net metering concept is whereby if one is generating in excess of what one requires they then transmit the excess into the grid and at the end of the day there are some reconciliation that are done. It is the only the net which then is determinant on who pays who either one paying ZETDC or ZETDC paying the prosumer for the excess energy they have transmitted into the grid,” he said.

Ideally, net metering is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly important with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which are difficult to store.