Time to think outside the box on electricity

Zimbabwe’s intermittent power supply has remained the economy’s greatest undoing and it’s about time we move from mere rhetoric to real action in terms of resolving the crisis. The country’s power generation capacity remains far short of demand while imports have decreased substantially over the last few years.
This situation is untenable for a country keen to resuscitate its economy.

Agriculture, mining, manufacturing and all sectors of the economy require adequate power supplies to operate optimally but this has remained a fallacy for a long time.

The new Minister of Energy and Power Development, Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire, was spot-on on Wednesday when he lamented the poor generation capacity but we must hasten to say that stakeholders are only too aware of this but the question that beckons is, “What is being done about the situation?”

The new minister, just like his colleagues who may be new to their portfolios, do not have the luxury to acclimatise but must immediately get down to business.

President Mugabe has stressed countless times that the economy needs to be firing from all cylinders but the reality on the ground is that this will not happen unless the issue of power generation and supply is addressed.

Therefore, what this means is that increased generation capacity should not be mere wishful thinking but that tangible steps must now be taken to improve the situation.

Zimbabwe needs at least 1 730 megawatts per day but is only getting 1 167 megawatts. Resultantly, both domestic and industrial users have had to endure severe power cuts which seem to be worsening by the day.

This week the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries gave a gloomy account of the state of the manufacturing sector, saying capacity utilisation had gone down to 39,6 percent from 44,9 percent and poor power supply ranked highly among the major constraints.

Endless instances of how power is affecting the economy can be cited but more energy now needs to be expended towards ensuring that the obtaining situation improves.

Long-term solutions have already taken off in the form of the expansion of Hwange and Kariba Power Stations but it will take four years before significant improvements come through.

Kariba presently produces 500 megawatts while Hwange produces 430 megawatts. These figures are set to rise by 600 and 300 megawatts respectively by 2018.

The smaller thermal power stations are producing a combined 47 megawatts while the only external source, Hydro Cahora Bassa of Mozambique can only spare 200 megawatts.

This calls for stakeholders to think outside the box and come up with short-term solutions to bridge the gap in the interim or the power supply situation will continue to compromise efforts to revive the economy.

The Sadc region is presently facing a serious power crisis resulting in only Mozambique, out of our previous four suppliers, managing to sell us some.

In this instance Zimbabwe needs to approach its previous suppliers to broker deals that will bring more electricity into this country.
Furthermore, the fact that the Electricity Act that provides for independent producers should see more such firms coming in to augment existing supplies.

Already the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority has a number of these independent producers. What is left now is for the body to follow up on these projects and ensure they get the necessary support to get them going.

Also, significant effort should also be directed towards the harnessing of renewable energy.
So much sunshine is presently going to waste and yet this could be harnessed to provide alternative sources of energy.

Economies such as China have made significant strides and broken world economy records aided by such forms of renewable energy.
The solar energy systems were introduced in this country about two decades ago with a lot of verve but the steam ran out at some point.

By now almost every household should be using solar for the bulk of energy needs while industries could also augment demands.
Biogas and other forms of renewable energy can help ameliorate the situation and get the economy firing again.
Naturally we need to conserve what we presently have and direct efforts towards improving the generation of more power to meet or even exceed demand.

Ultimately the potential is there for Zimbabwe to export power into the region one day.
So Minister Mavhaire, your portfolio was never meant to be a stroll in the park.
You and your team must bring into practice the glossy documents that are piling in some office to light up the country one more time.