adminZIMBABWE plans to replace all household electric boilers with solar heaters after state utility Zesa Holdings said most homes would be restricted to six hours of power a day.
Electric boilers consume about 40 percent of residential power “right when we have an acute shortage of electricity,” energy secretary Partson Mbiriri said on Monday. The National Domestic Solar Water Heating Programme, to be unveiled on September 30, will free up about 300MW, he said.
The southern African nation produces about 984MW of electricity, far short of the 2,200MW it needs.
Much of that power comes from the Kariba hydro plant, where reservoir levels have dropped to just 29 percent full, according to the Zambezi River Authority.
While all new buildings must be heated with solar energy, home-owners will be “given time” to replace existing equipment, Mr Mbiriri said, without being specific.- Bloomberg.
Online Reporter