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Business Reporter
State power utility Zesa Holdings has started the refurbishment of six units at the Hwange Power Station to raise electricity production to about 840 megawatts.
Zesa executive chairman Dr Sydney Gata said the repowering of unit five at the thermal power plant had already started using the company’s internal resources while an agreement with Jindal of India was being finalised for the upgrade of other generators.
Hwange is currently producing an average of 485 megawatts.
“Hwange power station’s ongoing repowering programme is a significant initiative aimed at enhancing the station’s reliability and output,” said Dr Gata.
“With this investment (US$800 million), the project is set to upgrade units one to six to ensuring increased capacity, reliability and extend the operational life of the units by 15 to 20 years.”
Dr Gata said the completion of unit five repowering was scheduled for April 2025, which would bolster the plant’s capacity in preparation for the high demand during the winter peak season.
The repowering programme will be done over the next 36 to 48 months.
Apart from repowering Hwange, Jindal will invest in an additional four new units at Hwange, introducing 1 200MW of new capacity. Feasibility studies for these have since commenced.
Dr Gata also said ZESA had entered agreements with ferrochrome companies to generate their own power.
“Construction work has already started at one site targeting to produce 300MW of thermal power in Hwange, with the first 100MW coming on stream by mid-2025,” said Dr Gata.
Construction work would commence during the third quarter of 2024 for a 720MW thermal power station by one of the ferrochrome companies for selfsupply and supply to other companies.
In addition, ferrochrome companies will be investing in renewable energy, solar and wind, commencing this year.
In total smelting companies have reached an advanced stage for construction of a total of 300MW of solar and 100 MW of wind power.
Dr Gata said ZESA has been prioritising power to the winter wheat farmers.
Ring-fenced power for these farmers has been increased from 100MW to 150MW starting August 2024, sparing farmers from load shedding, except in instances of technical faults.
Furthermore, to increase reliability of supply, there has been reinforcement of the network and installation of switch gear for the winter wheat farmers.
As a way of supporting production by farmers, ZESA is mobilising financing for the installation of about 120MW of solar power at productive farms.
This will ease the demand from farming load on the system, and at the same time allow farmers to feedback excess energy to the grid.
Dr Gata said ZESA’s strategic response to vision 2030 to achieve an upper middle class economy was the attainment of energy security and access to electricity for all.
He said the utility was implementing a raft of interventions on the back of the blueprints National Development Strategy (NDS1)and the upcoming NDS2 as power supply was a critical enabler for Zimbabwe’s economic recovery, stabilisation and growth. These include the Road Map to Electricity Self Sufficiency for the country that was approved by Cabinet in 2023.
The milestone commissioning of the flagship Hwange Power Station 7 and 8 was a major contributor to the current power supply to essential services despite the impact of the El Nino during the last rainy season which has seen power production at Kariba South Hydro plant curtailed from 1 050MW to an average of 272MW.
ZESA has been facing a power supply shortfall of up to 540 MW during the high demand winter period.
Total power supply is averaging 1310 MW against a demand of 1 850MW at peak, leaving a shortfall of 540MW and the attendant load shedding.
Online Reporter