Page 12 - AfrElec Week 01 2023

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Zimbabwe rolls out incentives for

$1bn of solar projects

ZIMBABWE ZIMBABWE has announced a range of incen- The incentives are part of the southern Afri-
tives to support 27 solar projects worth $1bn to can nation’s bid to achieve upper middle-income
generate about 1GW of electricity, according to status by 2030, as a diversified, reliable, and
PV Magazine. affordable electricity mix will be a key factor in
Citing a recent release by the finance minister, achieving that goal, Ncube said.
Mthuli Ncube, the title reported on December The country aims to generate 1.1 GW of
30 that under the government implementation electricity from renewable sources by 2025,
agreement (GIA), Zimbabwe will guarantee via- but its volatile currency and unattractive tariffs
ble power tariffs to improve bankability of the had kept IPP investment at bay.
investments to produce 997.9MW of energy. The announced incentives will be “game
The GIA includes a project development sup- changers” for Zimbabwe’s power sector, Mathe-
port agreement, a power purchase agreement sha Koko, managing director for South Afri-
(PPA), and an agreement with the central bank ca-based IPP Mathesha Energy and a former
for guaranteed payments of dividends and for- head of state utility Eskom, tweeted last week.
eign loan repayments to external investors and “We are pleased that the government of Zim-
lenders. babwe has worked in a very coordinated way
Ncube said that the government will guaran- to implement the necessary government sup-
tee viable power tariffs and PPAs to independ- port agreement that will make the independ-
ent power projects (IPPs) that pass the screening ent power projects in Zimbabwe bankable,” he
process. added.
“A key ingredient to the successful imple- Mathesa Energy has a licence to build a
mentation of the solar IPPs projects is a bankable 100MW solar plant in Gwanda, southwestern
government implementation agreement with an Zimbabwe. ™
economic tariff,” he said.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 04•January•2023