eBusiness Weekly
Golden Sibanda in Kariba
Zimbabwe is set to whittle its power import bill by half and save at least $72 million annually following the completion of Kariba South Power Station capacity extension project, Zesa chief executive Josh Chifamba has said.
The first generation unit with a capacity of 150 megawatts, was completed and came on stream in December, while the second unit of equal capacity was completed this month and will start feeding into national grid next month.
State power utility Zesa Holdings’ generating unit, Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), contracted Sino Hydro four years ago to undertake the expansion of the 750 megawatt Kariba South power plant by a further 300MW, as Government moved to close the country’s power deficit.
Kariba South, combined, now has mid-merit (able to increase and reduce output according to level of demand) capacity to generate up to 1050MW.
Zimbabwe is currently able to generate an average 1 100MW against demand for power at peak periods of 1400MW, with the shortfall being met through imports from Hydro Cahorra Bass of Mozambique and Eskom of South Africa.
However, given the foreign currency constraints, Zesa has struggled to service accumulated debts for power imports, resulting in the regional power utilities threatening to cut supplies, which would plunge the Zimbabwe into darkness and negatively disrupted industrial and commercial activity across the country.
Zesa CEO Eng Chifamba said in an interview in Kariba ahead of the commissioning of the new power plant by President Mnangagwa that Zimbabwe would cut its import bill nearly 50 percent, amounting to $6 million a month and $72 million a year with the new station now on line.
“We are expecting that we will cut the import bill by 50 percent; that amounts to about $6 million every month. We have completed the plant within budget ($533 million) and on time,” he said.
Reducing the import bill will be a major relief on Zesa, which in the past year ran up over US $100 million power bill with Eskom, of which US$40 million were arrears, a move that saw SA’s state utility threatening supply cuts.
Zesa also owed HCB.
The completion of Kariba South Extension also comes as water levels at Kariba Dam have significantly improved from 20 percent last year to over 57 percent following drought that hit southern Africa in the past two seasons.
The improved water levels, Eng. Chifamba said, have also resulted in the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA)-which manages the riparian river- increasing water allocation to Zimbabwe and Zambia for power generation from 30 billion cubic meters in 2017 to 34 billion cubic metre now, with ZRA set to increase the ration to 40 billion cubic metres this month, as dam water levels keep rising. Inflows into the dam reach their highest between May and June when water flow from the Barotse Plains in the north (Zambia, Angola, DRC) reach Zimbabwe. Most of Kariba Dam’s water, (80 percent), comes from these plains and the balance from Zimbabwe.
As mid-merit power plant, Kariba South Power Station, will reduce the need to import and eliminate internal power cuts, as the hydro plant can ramp up output at peak period in the morning and evenings and lower production during the day when demand is lower.
During periods of lower demand, baseload power plants such as Hwange thermal plant, carry daytime demand, allowing the country to save the limited water resource for peak periods demand.
While Zimbabwe has significant installed capacity at Hwange, 920MW, reliable capacity has receded to an average 450MW due to aged equipment.
Out of the $533 million, China Eximbank contributed $320 million and ZPC $213 million.
Of this investment, US$90 million was spent on the local market for materials such as cement, timber, sand and quarry while US $14 million went to salaries.
