Hippo Valley to expand power distribution system

Hippo Valley Estates reported that local sales volumes increased by eight percent compared to the same period last year, driven by targeted commercial initiatives and growing demand for its Huletts SunSweet brand (File picture)

Judith Phiri

Zimpapers Business Hub

ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed Hippo Valley Estates is expanding its locally-generated power distribution network across the company’s agricultural areas or estates to mitigate the negative impact of national grid electricity outages on the group’s

operations.

In its Integrated Report for 2025, the company highlighted significant challenges that persisted, including water availability, electricity supply interruptions and challenges from the operating environment.

“In our sugar production process, bagasse availability directly affects electricity production. As production increases, so does bagasse availability, leading to more electricity generation.

“Conversely, lower production volumes result in less energy generated.

“While our electricity purchases from the grid have been decreasing due to limited supply, we remain committed to efficient production,” the company said.

The sugar producer said 58 869 megawatt-hours (MWh) had been generated in the current year (2024:49 154MWh), 10 844MWh were purchased (2024:18 257MWh), while 2 657MWh were exported to the grid (2024:568MWh).

The company said this improvement was due to better plant availability, production efficiencies and cane availability in 2025 compared to 2024.

“On average, the company used about 0.30MWh of electricity for every ton of sugar produced, a slight improvement from 2024, 0.32MWh per tonne of sugar produced.”