IPPS feed 94,08MW to national grid

LICENCED and operational Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are feeding 94,08MW to the national grid against an installed capacity of 8 054MW, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera), chief executive officer, Mr Eddington Mazambani has said.

The regulatory authority has licensed over 60 independent power producers but only 30 of them are operational,
Many of these are just designed to meet the in-house needs of respective companies as opposed to generating power for the national grid.

According to Zera’s official website, as of August last year, 30 IPPs were operational of which 17 had varied capacities for own consumption.

In emailed responses to the Business Chronicle, Mr Mazambani said only 94,08MW is fed to the national grid.

“Renewable energy projects, IPPs are contributing 94,08 megawatts to the national grid,” he said, adding that this is against a combined capacity of 8 054MW.

In December last year, the Government identified and recommended 27 IPPs with an estimated combined output of 1 000MW for support, a development seen as a massive boost to the projects as the Second Republic is speeding up investment by the IPPs with main focus on solar projects.

Zera chief executive officer Mr Edington Mazambani

Government has guaranteed economic tariffs to qualifying IPPs solar projects that would have passed the screening process.

However, due to the slow off-take of various projects, Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Magna Mudyiwa hinted in the Senate that licences of IPPS that failed to provide electricity under their agreement with the State are being re-examined by the regulator and could be revoked.

She said the country could have been getting more than 2 000MW from IPPs if all were operational.
Government has since tasked Zera to review the licenses.

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC)

“We have told Zera to revisit the issue of licences. Some were holding on to licenses for more than five years while others are using the electricity they generate for their own consumption only instead of directing some to national grid,” said Deputy Minister Mudyiwa.

Players in the business and energy sector say the country will need to boost electricity supplies to 2 350MW by 2025 to meet demand especially from the mining sector.

The country’s economy is on a rebound due to various policies initiated by the Government that have seen growth in the mining and agricultural sectors.-chronicle.cl.zw