Page 12 - AfrElec Week 24 2022

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Bulawayo approves building

of two solar plants

ZIMBABWE BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, “The current proposal to have Bulawayo City
has approved the construction of two solar Council foot the bill is exploitative as Williams
power plants which are expected to produce will eventually use the feasibility studies funded
100MW. The local authority, according to state- by the council to raise funds for project imple-
owned daily The Chronicle, will partly own one mentation from investors. They should show
of the facilities. their commitment and confidence by outlaying
Citing Bulawayo’s latest council report, the resources upfront,” the report said, adding that
publication reported on Friday (June 10) that the council will cede the land when the financial
the local authority and a private company, Wil- close is achieved.
liams Engineering, will build a 50MW project on Williams Engineering says it is the only Zim-

a 100-hectare piece of land that the city owns. babwean company that builds diesel generators.
Bulawayo has also greenlighted a plan by local It also provides solar panels, inverters, batteries,
company Parvalue Energy (Pvt) Ltd to build a installations and full assessments ranging from
50M plant in the city. 1.5KW to 50MW. It has built and installed solar
The 100ha piece of land offered by Bulawayo systems in cell towers, houses and large solar
will constitute its 25% equity. The holding is situ- farms connected to power grids.
ated adjacent to a dam, Ncema, that supplies the Zimbabwe has been grappling with an elec-
city of about 650,000 people with water. tricity deficit since 2007 because of the low
“The Zimbabwe National Water Authority capacity and inefficiency of generating plants.
[which oversees management of all water bod- It is encouraging independent power produc-
ies and their catchments in the country] has no ers (IPPs), businesses and individuals to invest
objections to the proposal provided the devel- mainly in solar energy. To stimulate the invest-
oped area is kept grassed to minimise erosion,” ments, all solar energy components can be
says the council report. imported duty free.
“As one of the stakeholders of the catchment, The Chronicle quoted Bulawayo Town Clerk,
we hope Bulawayo City Council will imple- Christopher Dube as saying: “The electricity
ment this as exemplary project on protecting would be transmitted to the national grid and
the environment through renewable energy necessary offsets made accordingly with Zim-
development.” babwe Electricity Supply Authority.”
It said that Williams Engineering, as pro- The council has granted Parvalue Energy
moters of the project, will fully fund prepara- (Pvt) Ltd a permit to develop the solar photo-
tory activities including feasibility studies, voltaic power plant at Westgate in the city, said
project design and the environmental impact the report.™
assessment.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 16•June•2022