By Merlyn Mwanza
Zimbabwe plans to import 500MW of power from neighbouring Mozambique and Zambia, but crisis-hit South Africa is also competing for the same power to shore up its shortfall, according to the BBC.
Zimbabwe has already spent over US$1bn in imports over the last decade but financing for renewable energy remains low.
The country is currently undergoing a severe load shedding schedule, with the crisis coming to a head in the last fortnight, when the Zambezi River Authority ordered Zimbabwe’s Kariba South power station to shut due to dangerously low water levels in Lake Kariba.
Experts say the country’s coal-powered thermal plants are supposed to supply the baseload power, but the aged generators frequently break down.
“It has forced authorities to draw heavily on Kariba, exhausting the annual water allocation and eating into neighbouring Zambia’s share. Water levels were already low because of successive droughts,” the BBC reported.
Zimbabwe has sunk about $2bn (£1.6bn) into power generation in the last decade. But the country still struggles with outages.
The country is currently producing about 600 megawatts (MW) of power against a daily demand of about 2,000MW.
Zimbabwe has been allowed to continue generating up to 300MW from Kariba, said Gloria Magombo, the head of the energy ministry. The river authority will review the water levels in early January following the start of the rainy season.
“We now give each other chances to cook, one over there and other there,” said one of the affected residents, pointing around the small backyard. “It’s the same as not having electricity because when it comes around [midnight] the children are sleeping. Now we are in [the Christmas period] I don’t know what we are going to do.”
The government believes the problems are temporary and targets 3,500MW of power generation within the next two years. In the short-term it says one more unit at the Hwange thermal power station will be commissioned by the end of the year, adding 300MW to the grid, and that water levels are beginning to rise again at Kariba.
