THE ongoing coal mining projects in Hwange are set to boost the national power grid by 6000 megawatts of electricity this was revealed President Emerson Mnangagwa when he was delivering State of the Nation (SONA) today.
“This will see Zimbabwe becoming a net exporter of energy. Works on the Hwange 7 and 8 Expansion Project will be expedited following delays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The current stability in power generation at Kariba Dam and increased energy output at the thermal power plants has had a positive impact on productivity across all sectors of the economy. Independent Power Producers are equally poised to feed additional power onto the national grid, by the second quarter of 2021”, he said.
Last month the Minister of Energy and Power Development Zhemu Soda, revealed that construction of two units that will add 600 megawatts (MW) to the national grid from Hwange Power Station is 70 per cent complete, while various investors in the same area are at different stages of building power plants that will contribute more than 3 000MW in the medium term.
“By 2023, Zimbabwe should be a net exporter of power. I have identified various aspects that can lead to such growth. I have a keen interest in the participation of the private sector in the power supply.
“Overall, independent power producers (IPPs) are looking at producing over 3 000MW by 2023, so we think that by 2023 the country will be able to produce about 5 000MW,” he said.
The targeted 5 000MW are more than the power that is being generated by Nigeria — Africa’s biggest economy and also most populous nation — whose output presently stands at more than 4 000MW.
