Sable to operate on minimum power, says Bimha

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
Sable Chemicals will now operate on 10 megawatts while it migrates from electrolysis to cheaper technology of manufacturing fertilisers, a senior Government official has said.

Government is also encouraging private players to import power and heavy users of power to let go of some of the power to ensure the resource benefits many.

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Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mike Bimha yesterday said Sable Chemicals had enough ammonia in stock and required 10MW to process it into ammonium nitrate. The company operated at 40 megawatts.

“We have agreed that Sable Chemicals gets 10 megawatts and process the ammonia it has into ammonium nitrate. Once the process is finished, Sable Chemicals will be given 1 megawatt.

“During the maintenance, Sable Chemicals will be importing ammonia and process it into ammonium nitrate and the process will continue. These are just temporary measures as the company will be moving to cheaper technology.

“In the meantime we are negotiating with the ministries of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and Finance and Economic Development to come up with a structure to be used in the next three years to source fertilisers to augment local production,” he said.

Minister Bimha said the new move meant that not all the people were going to lose their jobs.

He said the company still required skills and even during maintenance some people will remain on the jobs. He said Government owed ZETDC $150 million through electricity subsidies to Sable Chemicals and had failed to settle the bill due to economic challenges.

“Since 1969, Sables Chemicals operated at a preferential rate of three cents per kilowatt per hour and now will be charged 6,7 cents per kilowatt per hour. Other companies had also negotiated for the 6,7 cents charge,” he said.

Cde Bimha said Government was willing to assist the company because of its strategic role in the production of fertilisers and also in the shift to cheaper technologies such as coal gasification or coal bed methane. “Sable Chemicals has since 1969 been enjoying a preferential rate of 3 cents per kwh because the technology of electrolysis it used consumed a lot of power. The commercial good would be made by Government. Government would pay ZESA. If the company was charged real charges, it would translate to high prices of fertilisers. The company has for long been working on shifting to cheaper technology.

“The thinking was that once we migrate to cheaper technology we would reduce costs of production and fertilisers,” he said.

Cde Bimha said the company was facing serious challenges because of power shortages as a result of low water levels at Kariba Dam. “We cannot continue to bail out Sable Chemicals but want to migrate to cheaper technology.

“We believe the challenges faced by the company are sincere and would like to assist them to move to a cheaper source of energy. We will work with Sable Chemicals season by season. If we put our heads together we will realise our objectives,” he said. Cde Bimha said Government was also now looking at other cheaper energy sources such as solar to reduce heavy dependence on electricity.