Zimbabwe Wants To Fast-Track 27 Solar PV Projects Totaling 1,000 MW To Help Deal With Electricity Crisis. Will It Work?
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Zimbabwe has an installed electricity generation capacity of about 2,300 MW, but there is a huge problem. The Zimbabwe Power Company’s (ZPC) thermal plants are very old and keep breaking down. There are three small coal power plants in Harare, Munyati, and Bulawayo that have installed capacities of at least 80 MW but most of the time, the output at each plant is 0 MW. Then there is 920 MW at Hwange where breakdowns are also common. The plant rarely does more than 500 MW. It usually hovers around 300 MW. Some rehabilitation has started onsite to improve the performance of the units at Hwange. Let’s see how that goes. ZPC is also adding two new 300 MW units at Hwange, with the first 300 MW unit due to come online anytime now, and the second one is due in Q1 of next year.
The country’s other major plant is the 1,050 MW hydropower plant in Kariba. This plant is usually very reliable, however, due to the low rainfalls in the region, ZPC has had to curtail generation to about 300 MW. This is the second time in 3 years low water levels are affecting generation at the plant and implement a load shedding program. The last time was in 2019. So, climate change induced droughts are a major concern now.
There is also a some contribution from some independent power producers, but it’s not much at the moment. IPPs still contribute less than 2% to Zimbabwe’s electricity generation mix. Here is where the other big problem is in Zimbabwe’s electricity sector. Despite having over 100 projects from IPPs with licenses to generate electricity from solar PV and wind etc., very few of them have taken off. Developers have been struggling to reach financial close due to the chaotic currency environment in Zimbabwe over the last decades. Zimbabwe’s currency chaos and inflation over the last decades is well documented elsewhere. This situation doesn’t help people trying to work on long term projects such as 20 year PPAs. In fact, this was recently tested in a landmark case when a developer went to court and lost the currency dispute, hence investments have been very slow in such an uncertain environment.
Now the government says it wants to catalyze growth in the solar PV sector under the standardized Government Implementation Agreement (GIA) for all solar IPP projects. Zimbabwe’s minister of finance recently announced some new measures to help the sector. The Finance minister said “A key ingredient to the successful implementation of the solar IPPs projects is a bankable GIA with an economic tariff. The GIA has three major components which are; Project Development Support Agreement; Power Purchase Agreement; and The Reserve Bank Undertaking for Foreign Currency Convertibility and Transfer.”
Here is a summary of the solar IPP projects recommended for government support. The solar IPP projects listed below will generate about 1000 MW for an estimated cost of US$1 billion:
| No. | IPP | CAPACITY | LOCATION |
| MW | |||
| 1 | Lueven Investments | 10 | Millgrove Farm, Marondera |
| 2 | TD Energy | 40.8 | Hunyani Park, Norton |
| 3 | The Solar Group | 50 | Chertsey Farm, Gweru |
| 4 | Sinogy Power | 75 | Chapfuche Farm, Beitbridge, Matabeleland South Province. |
| 5 | MoPower | 50 | Orient Farm of Somabhula in Gweru, Midlands Province |
| 6 | Africa Oracle | 25 | Antelope Estate, Chivhu |
| 7 | Murombedzi Solar | 10.5 | Murombedzi Industrial Park, Zvimba |
| 8 | New Glovers Solar | 10 | Glovers Farm, Munyati, Kwekwe |
| 9 | DeGreen Rhino | 50 | Rufaro Farm, Marondera |
| 10 | Solarwise Energy | 20 | Nuanetsi Ranch, Chiredzi District, Masvingo Province |
| 11 | Triangle Solar Systems | 45 | Nuanetsi Range A, Chiredzi District, Masvingo Province |
| 12 | Gombe Power Solutions | 50 | Twyford Estate, Selous, Mashonaland West Province |
| 13 | TD Energy – Ecosoft | 36 | Lot 3 of Stuhm Farm, Goromonzi District, Mash East Province |
| 14 | Hapnust Investments | 5 | Kamureza in Hurungwe District, Mashonaland West Province |
| 15 | Custodian Energy | 50 | Puri Farm, Alaska, Mashonaland West Province |
| 16 | Zororo Energy | 50 | Randhurst Grange Estate, Melfort, Bromley in Mashonaland East Province |
| 17 | Camelzone Enterprises | 50 | Sans Souci Farm, Mashava, Masvingo Province |
| 18 | AF Power | 50 | Upper Nondwene Estate in Bulawayo District. |
| 19 | Acacia Energy | 50 | Chipangayi Growth Centre, Chipinge District, Manicaland Province. |
| 20 | Equinox Energy | 10 | Makaha 30 near Kotwa, Mudzi Mutoko, Mashonaland East Province |
| 21 | Parvalue | 50 | Westgate Suburb, Donnington West, Bulawayo |
| 22 | Matshela Energy | 100 | Timber Farm, Gwanda, Matabeleland South Province |
| 23 | Pito Investments | 25 | Mvuma, Chirumanzu |
| 24 | CoreZim Mining | 20.6 | Sessombi 11 Farm, Kwekwe, Midlands |
| 25 | EPCA South | 5 | Gweru Aerodrome, Gweru, Midlands Province |
| 26 | Yellow Africa | 50 | Subdivision of 3 Broad Acres, Imbesu 3, Ward 8, Umguza Rural District, Matabeleland North Province |
| 27 | Indo Africa | 10 | Rourka Farm, Mutorashnga. Mazowe Distrct |
| TOTAL CAPACITY | 997.9 |
The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating! Will this work? Will the currency chaos subside? We can only wait and see. Zimbabwe desperately needs all of the over 100 licensed projects to get funded, built and start producing ASAP to help ease the power crises that saw most citizens experiencing 20 hours of load-shedding per day over the past few months.
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