Editorial Comment: Power generation stability key for growth President Mnangagwa commissioning the Kariba South Hydropower Station last year

When President Mnangagwa commissioned Kariba South Power Station units 7 and 8 in March last year, adding 300 megawatts to the national grid, the event heralded the beginning of more secure and stable internal power supply in Zimbabwe.

The country has since rolled out plans, through Government and private sector initiatives to increase internal power generation as energy remains one of the key economic enablers.

And true to the adage that hard work pays off, the country has started reaping the dividends of stable and secure internal power supply, reducing foreign currency demand for imports.

Under the visionary leadership of President Mnangagwa’s administration, Zimbabwe is therefore firmly on course to realise its goal of self-sufficiency in power generation and supply and should be able to start exporting excess power soon.

Such scenario would be positive for the country since power exports will earn the country foreign currency. Since 2007, Zimbabwe experienced serious power deficits resulting in rolling power cuts, which negatively affected industries, households and the economy at large. Shortage of power can without doubt hold back economic growth in a devastating way.

Until last year, Zimbabwe could only manage an average internal generation of 1 100MW against conservative demand for power at peak periods of 1 400MW.

And the country eventually took the onerous decision to import a significant amount of power it requires to bridge its internal deficit.

This was not sustainable given that foreign currency must be earned and Zimbabwe is currently not in the best shape to do that.

The country experienced power shortages because for nearly three decades, after the commissioning of the last units of Hwange in 1984, Zimbabwe had not invested further in internal power generation, worse, Hwange had outlived its 25 year lifespan.

However, the bold decision to invest over US$500 million in internal generation in March last year delivered a staggering 300MW to the national grid.

The need for the country to expend huge sums of foreign currency, averaging US$10 million a week, has dropped. From expending averages of US$35 million to US$40 million, Zimbabwe is now using a mere US$3 million imports; if need be and we call for leadership to invest more in such capital projects.

Statistics from ZESA also show that Zimbabwe is now only importing an average of 50MW whenever it has to, down from about 350MW.

It’s now intriguing to note that any interruption to power supply the country may experience may be a result of faulty lines or disturbances from rains.

With Kariba now generating a maximum of 1 050MW and more water on Lake Kariba for power generation, the situation at South Africa’s Eskom little worries Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe had a non-firm agreement with Eskom to import up to 350MW, while an agreement with Hydro Cahora Bassa existed for 50MW.

As Eskom’s operational problems worsened on Monday this week, the power utility was forced to take out 4 000MW from the grid, representing 40 percent of the firm’s capacity.

But with Kariba now able to produce 1 050MW, Zimbabwe is closest to self-sufficiency upon increasing at Hwange 7 and 8 , an additional 600MW will be fed to the grid.

The country’s current peak period demand currently stands at an average 1 600MW against internal generation capacity of 1 400MW to 1 500MW. If the domestic economy needs 1 600MW while constrained by two decades of meltdown, at full throttle after recovery it will need significantly more, calling for urgent need to build more power infrastructure.

As such, Zimbabwe is also working on several power projects; private and public, to increase generation capacity.

We therefore call upon the authorities to speed up the development of Batoka Gorge hydro project, which will produce 2 400MW split equally between the parties.

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