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AfrElec COAL-FIRED THERMAL GENERATION AfrElec
Zimbabwe warns of power supply crisis
ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY outages in the southern Afri- electricity generation at [Lake] Kariba with water
can nation will continue and may worsen as its levels at 14 % at the dam,” he observed.
production facilities are old and prone to fre- Due to its reliance on ageing facilities, more
quent breakdowns, a Zimbabwean minister has frequent droughts and rising demand, the Zim-
warned. babwe Power Company (ZPC) is failing to pro-
Soda Zhemu, the minister of energy, told duce enough electricity to meet demand of about
parliament on March 1 that the country’s largest 1, 800MW.
coal-fired plant at Hwange was producing just As at 11:58pm on March 2, ZPC was produc-
above 77MW after an equipment failure. ing a total of 320MW. Hwange was producing
Depressed power supply outage of Hwange 73MW while Kariba Hydro was generating
Power Station resulted in three units being lost 247MW and three smaller thermal facilities not
from February 23-24, he said, as reported by producing. The country imports power from
local title New Zimbabwe. neighbouring Mozambique, Zambia and South
“Hwange Power Station lost 363MW from Africa.
440MW to 77MW. The old equipment is due for
replacement. The power outage at Hwange was a
forced, unplanned fault on the day and until we
have dependable equipment that we need, such
outages will be common,” he said.
Zhemu said he could not say when the three
units will be up and running again but promised
that the breakdown will be looked at “as a matter
of urgency.”
However, he noted the government had put
in place a national renewable energy policy in
2019 to make use of fossil, solar, wind and biogas
energy and has licensed 90 investments. Zhemu
added that despite the crisis, institutions such as
hospitals will not suffer outages.
“We have increased our imports from
300MW to 500MW and we also hope to increase
RENEWABLES
ABB joins forces with RES4Africa
AFRICA SWEDISH-SWISS global technology com- foundations for common partnership efforts,
pany ABB has become an ordinary member of capacity building, and more, Res4Africa said
RES4Africa (Renewable Energy Solutions for in a statement.
Africa) Foundation, an organisation focused “We’re delighted to welcome ABB to our
on promoting Africa’s just energy transition and membership, which enriches RES4Africa’s net-
expansion of electrification towards universal work and potential endeavours,” said Roberto
access by 2030. Vigotti, RES4Africa’s secretary general. “Its
Established in 2012, RES4Africa has a priceless technical experience, matched with
wide network of members comprising utili- a far-reaching vision of a decarbonised world,
ties, manufacturers, financial institutions and will be an irreplaceable asset for a common
consulting companies from across renewable pursuit of Africa’s energy transition, based on
energy value chain at local, regional and global ground-breaking solutions and state-of-the-art
levels. technologies.”
The platform’s goal to progress Africa’s “As a member of the RES4Africa Founda-
sustainable electrification complements tion, ABB is sharing our expertise on renewable
ABB’s efforts to enable a low carbon society, integration and smart grid technology to sup-
preserve resources and promote social pro- port Africa’s energy transition,” said Alessandra
gress, whilst supporting business and eco- Grisolia, global account manager and ABB rep-
nomic growth. resentative at RES4Africa.
The technology leader in electrification “Africa has huge untapped clean energy
and automation will provide the RES4Africa potential, and by working together, we can ena-
with technical expertise on decentralised, ble a more sustainable and resource-efficient
digital and innovative solutions, laying the future for the continent,” she added.
Week 10 08•March•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
