Minister for Energy and Power Development Zhemu Soda has said that they are negotiating electricity import deals with Mozambique and Zambia that could amount to an additional 280MW.
Zimbabwe’s power generation capacity has been brought into question year on year. It seems like there is always an issue at Hwange that results in nationwide load-shedding. Most recently the power authority ZESA announced that there were going to be 12-hour long blackouts because of limited capacity.
At present, the country is importing 50MW from Mozambique and 100MW from South Africa. However, the former has had its own problems which have seen that supply line dry up. So now the government is looking to Zambia and Mozambique to make up the difference and more.
“Zambia has indicated that they have a surplus of 100 MW from the Kafue Gorge, which they can sell to us and a delegation from ZESA went to Zambia on Monday for the negotiations. Mozambique also told us that they have additional 180 MW over and above what we are currently importing and these new two deals will give us additional 280 MW. That should help us to reduce the deficit of between 200 and 300 MW.”
Minister Zhemu Soda (via The Herald)
As I am sure we are all aware nothing in life is free and these new electricity import deals will most likely result in a ZESA tariff hike. There is no better time to squirrel some money away for an inverter or if means allow, a solar installation. As with most things that happen in Zimbabwe, we are, even on the best days, usually left to our own devices.
