Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
GOVERNMENT has expressed excitement over the successful synchronisation of the new Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 expansion project to the national grid, describing the development as a milestone for the country.
The 300MW project, one of the signature investments under the Second Republic, has been successfully synchronised and started feeding electricity to the national grid on Monday.
This is a giant leap for Zimbabwe as the country beefs up its domestic power supply to meet growing economic needs.
The historic synchronisation process sought to establish if the electricity being generated from Unit 7 would flow seamlessly into the national grid without hiccups.
Delegates attending the 4th edition of the International Renewable Energy Conference and Expo, which kicked off in Victoria Falls on Tuesday, visited the power plant on Tuesday to witness the synchronisation process.
Ministry of Energy and Power Development permanent secretary, Dr Gloria Magombo, said Zimbabwe had achieved what South Africa and Botswana struggled to achieve when some plants had false starts during construction of their power projects.
“We spent the day at Hwange Power Station and this is after the milestone commissioning process of synchronisation into the grid. I want it to be very clear that it’s a critical milestone for the commissioning process to be pushed to the next and final level,” she said.
“Once we have connected the plant to the grid, we can now start doing the final test for safety on it going to behave when there is a certain signal coming through. As we ramp up we also look at the design to see whether what we did is up to the design.”
Dr Magombo said the synchronisation process was critical, hence the synchronisation breakthrough was significant.
She was speaking at the conference, which is being attended by Government officials, technology providers, power utilities, independent power producers and different stakeholders from Zimbabwe, and the region.
Dr Magombo said the conference was a platform for the Government and its partners to strategise towards implementing the Energy Policy targets, adding that energy security is not something that can be resolved by one entity.
She said Government through the National Development Strategy (NDS1) has made it clear that there is a need to build new capacity through private sector partnerships.
Dr Magombo said consultation will be done with the necessary stakeholders to ensure the final date for commissioning is set, and this will only once everything is confirmed to be in order.
She said the synchronisation process is meant to check where the new plant will operate efficiently and ensuring higher levels of safety.
The process also helps check if the system will be able to take itself out and shut down properly in the event of any outside signal. “So, for us commissioning is a process, which takes time but it’s important for the process and performance of the plant given the amount of money, which we have spent on that plant,” said Dr Magombo.
“What is very critical is for us as Government to appreciate the work being done and continue to encourage contractors, engineers and consultants of the work done so far. We really want to appreciate that and continue to encourage them as they are already doing commissioning of Unit 8.”
“The process has already started. So, we want to encourage them so that before mid-year we should be able to have both units at least running, especially Unit 7 on full commercial load and Unit 8 being finalised in terms of it going to commercial load.
“So, it’s really a milestone, which we want to celebrate as a country and which even with all the delays we have had, it was worth it,” added Dr Magombo.
The US$1,4 billion expansion project started after a ground-breaking by President Mnangagwa in 2018.
Expectations are that by June this year, everything would have been put in place to ensure the installed capacity of 300MW would be achieved, and President Mnangagwa would then officially commission the project.
Dr Magombo said the commissioning and handover will be done only after it has been declared available for commercial operation.
“We have had our partners in South Africa, they had challenges. Eventually, they managed to do so. In Botswana they had challenges and it took them years to be where we are,” she said.
“So, we really want to appreciate the work, which has been done, particularly the quality of work done.”
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