Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) MD Noah Gwariro says the State-owned company needs at least $300-million to refurbish thermal power stations in Bulawayo, Harare and Munyati and to increase their generation capacities.

He says once the refurbishment programme has been completed, the combined generation capacity of the three stations will increase to 280 MW and the operating life will be extended by another 20 years.

“We are looking for about $300-million to refurbish the three plants,” he says.

Indian company Wapcos conducted the feasibility studies into the refurbishment programme, says Gwariro, adding that the Indian government will fund the rehabilitation of the Bulawayo power station, which has been struggling to achieve its full generation capacity of 90 MW since being brought back to service in 2009.

Gwariro say the ZPC is working hard to woo local private-sector players to participate in the refurbishment and capacity upgrading of the Harare power station, which is currently out of commission owing to inadequate coal supplies, while the Bulawayo and Munyati plants are struggling to remain operational as a result of frequent coal shortages and plant breakdowns.

Funding Supported Gwariro

says the Ministry of Energy and Power Development has supported the funding of the Bulawayo power station refurbishment by the Indian government, adding: “For the Harare power station, we will be going out to tender very soon to get an engineering, procurement and construction contractor who can provide part of the funding and do the technical work of rehabilitating the plant. “We look forward to participation by the local private sector in this project.”

He says the ZPC has finalised draft plans to lease the Munyati power station to Essar Africa Holdings, an Indian company that bought the Zimbabwe Iron & Steel Company in 2010.

The ZPC’s broader efforts to boost national power generation include expansion of the Kariba South hydropower station and the joint
Zimbabwe-Zambia Batoka Gorge power generation project on the Zambezi river.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) says it has received an application from private-sector player Hytoric Investments, which plans to build a thermal power station that will produce 600 MW at the Entuba coalfileds, in Hwange.

To date, the ZERA has licensed more than 13 independent power producers (IPPs) to augment the ZPC’s efforts to eliminate the national power deficit. Zimbabwe generates between 700 MW and 1 200 MW, a far cry from a total demand of 2 200 MW.

Further, the Zimbabwe Rural Electrification Agency says it will shortly build seven hydropower stations in the Save river catchment area, in the south-east of the
country. Spokesperson Johannes Nya-mayedenga says the projects will be implemented with the help of Indian power specialist Wapcos.

“We are working in partnership with Wapcos and have produced detailed feasibility studies on the Ruti dam, which
will produce 750 kW, the Siya dam 250 kW, the Manyuchi dam 1.5 kW, the Gairezi river 30 MW and the Duru river 6 MW, while the Osborne dam and
Pungwe are yet to be finished,” says Nyamayedenga.