IT’S HAS BEEN A CHALLENGING YEAR ON THE POWER FRONT, MINISTER ACKNOWLEDGES

Latwell

The Minister of Energy and Power Development of Zimbabwe, Edgar Moyo, has conceded that this has been a difficult year on the power generation and supply front.

Speaking during the interministerial and media session, Minister Edgar Moyo said:

“2024 has not been a pleasant year as we faced several challenges emanating from hydrological problems in the Kariba Dam.

“Because of the El Nino, the phenomenon that we all know about, there were literally very inflows into the lake, therefore affecting our generation.

“We have also come up with a number of policies important for the energy sector.

“The energy efficiency policy, which went through the Cabinet, is the most important policy in energy conservancy because we believe that we are using a lot of power through inefficient appliances which have to do with human behaviour where offices are left with lights on, no one inside there.

“We want to promote energy efficiency so that there is conservation of the available power.

“We have also come up with policies in the sector so that the private sector can participate.”

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engineer Gloria Magombo, said they are urging the people to develop an attitude of power saving.

“Through our efforts with the Ministry of Finance, there has been efforts to make sure gas is more accessible to the population.

“As a Ministry, we are developing a national integrated energy resource plan, which is looking at the consolidation of the network masterplan, which has been done by the utility up to 2024, in terms of how we are going to supply our energy.

“It will be launched during the first quarter of next year.

“We are also working with World Bank on the electrification strategy, looking at the access gap.

“We are also reviewing our energy policy of 2012, where we are negotiating with various stakeholders, in terms of what they want to see in the policy.

“At the moment we are doing wind assessment on eight ites where we want to bring these projects for procurement next year,” she said.