Expect supply-demand balance by second half of 2023: Zesa

POWER utility, Zesa, says the market should expect a steady supply of electricity in the second half of the year when the Hwange Thermal Power Station units 7 and 8 would have been commissioned to inject a combined 600 megawatts into the national grid.

Amid improved water inflows into Lake Kariba, which have started impacting positively on hydroelectricity output, the period to the year 2024 is forecast to be a safe zone in terms of power supply.
By the end of next year, Hwange stage 1 and 2 life extension is projected to add a further 400 megawatts to the national grid.
This comes as the industry continues to call for guaranteed or predictable energy supply to ensure proper planning of their operations to minimise the negative impact of unexpected or unscheduled power outages on business.

Kariba Dam

In a presentation delivered on Wednesday during the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) annual economic and business outlook symposium on Wednesday, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) commercial service director, Mr Gift Ndlovu on behalf of acting managing director Engineer Howard Choga, said Hwange unit 7 is expected to come on board by March to feed 300 megawatts. By June, unit 8 would also inject a further 300 megawatts.

“The short to long medium term is looking very good. Holding all other things constant, we feel that there will be a supply-demand balance in the second half of 2023. We feel very comfortable in terms of power supply,” he noted.
Mr Ndlovu said due to the gradual improvement of Kariba water levels, production capacity is expected to increase to 775 megawatts from 350 megawatts.
Commenting on Hwange unit 7 and 8, he said work is progressing well but with few minor challenges and expressed confidence that by the end of March, unit 7 will start feeding 300 megawatts.

“For unit 8, it is progressing well and we have learnt our lessons when working on unit 7, so we feel that unit 8 will come in seamlessly by June. This aggregate the total capacity from both units to 600 megawatts,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“We are guaranteed of at least getting 1 000 megawatts to cover the current shortfall that we have, so the second half of 2023 is looking good and we also feel that 2024 is generally in a safe zone in terms of our focus.”
Unit 7 has already been completed with the generation systems tested and accepted with the only thing holding connecting it to the national grid being the need for engineers to finalise works on the protection system.

The unit will add 300 megawatts to the national grid while Unit 8, with the same energy-generating capacity, is set to come online later this year.
After the two units are commissioned, Zesa will embark on another project of rehabilitating the existing six units that were commissioned in the 1980s to restore their capacity to 980 megawatts. At the moment they operate at half capacity.
Mr Ndlovu said the country is importing between 300- 450 megawatts from the Southern Africa Power Pool ranging from Zesco, Excom, Hydro Cabora Bassa and EDM of Mozambique.

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC)

At the same time, due to contractual obligations, 80 megawatts is exported to Namibia. When aggregated, available supplies range between 1 025 to 1 300 megawatts.
“Our economy’s current demand is ranging between 1 500 and 1 700 megawatts, so we have a shortfall that ranges between 200 and 450 megawatts and we manage this (shortfall) through load shedding,” he said.
The positive growth in the economy under the Second Republic has resulted in increased demand for power forcing the country to import to cover the deficit.

The engineer said the economy is on a revamp and capacity utilization is improved.
According to Zesa, the power company is sitting on new applications totalling 2 300 megawatts and that would create a power shortfall in the short to medium-term plans.
“The US$12 billion mining economy is a clear target and we are on course to meet it. Applications for connections are high. As of last year, our demand forecast closed the year at a maximum demand of 1 850 megawatts and we have forecast that by the end of the year, we will have 2 000 megawatts,” said Mr Ndlovu.

CONFEDERATION of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)

“We are sitting on applications totalling 2 300 by 2025 in terms of power requirements.”
CZI president Mr Kurai Matsheza said bearing in mind the national vision of creating an upper middle-income economy and society by 2030, a stable supply of electricity to drive industrial growth is critical.
“If energy supply is at best guaranteed or at worst predictable for the year, then businesses will be better able to plan for the reality and minimise the negative impact of unexpected or unscheduled power outages on business.

“If we address all the challenges in the economy that can be addressed by policy reforms, then we will minimise the impact of any external factors from global events and weather-induced events,” he said.
“In other words, if we control that which we can control with our policy measures then that which we cannot control will have a less devastating effect on our economy.”
Mr Matsheza added that a number of businesses have been progressively investing in expanding their capacity or upgrading their plant to more modern and efficient ones and achieving product quality, which can compete with any global products.-chronicle