THE Government has made the decision to restructure the power utility company (ZESA), to increase the country’s electricity self-sufficiency.
The approved roadmap to electricity self-sufficiency signifies the Government’s commitment to addressing the prevailing power deficit and establishing a more reliable and sustainable power supply for Zimbabwe.
The Minister of Energy and Power Development, Edgar Moyo told Cabinet on 7 November, that to bridge the electricity deficit, the country has been supplementing its power supply by importing electricity in the range of 200-500MW.
The local generation capacity is 1,280 megawatts (MW), while the average local demand stands at approximately 1,850MW, resulting in a deficit of almost 600MW.
Minister Moyo said to resolve operational challenges and ensure sustainable power supply, the Government plans to undertake a series of measures.
“Regarding measures to resolve the operational challenges, the Government will restructure the power utility company (ZESA); decommission and repurpose the small thermal power stations; contain technical and non-technical losses and implement various power saving initiatives.
“In the medium to long term, the Government will embrace Private Sector Coal Mining Initiatives and new technologies such as green hydrogen, floating solar panels; battery energy storage systems, and funding some of the renewable energy projects dotted around the country in order to increase domestic generation of electricity,” said Minister Moyo
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