The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo
News Editor
ZIMBABWE, like many of its regional peers, is grappling with both energy shortages and the impact of climate change.
In response, the Government has begun to invest in new power generation capacity.
In 2021, an ambitious plan to cut the country’s carbon emissions by 40 percent by the year 2050 was announced, indicating a shift away from coal — which currently accounts for over a third of electricity generation — towards clean energy sources.
Zimbabwe has huge potential for renewable energy. And given their market-leading role in manufacturing and supplying renewable energy equipment, companies from China — previously key financiers of coal projects in Zimbabwe — are among the actors that could accelerate the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.
Bridging the energy gap
Decades of underinvestment in electricity generation have resulted in persistent power shortages in Zimbabwe. Demand has long outstripped installed generation capacity, with the country’s power utility — the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) — continually covering the deficit through imports from neighbouring countries.
The total installed capacity of ZESA’s five power stations — Munyati, Hwange, Harare and Bulawayo coal power plants, and Kariba — stood at just over 2 000 megawatts (MW), against peak demand of 2 200MW.
However, the units are running well below capacity. Two new units — with a capacity to generate 600MW — are in the process of being commissioned in Hwange. Over the years, power generation at the ageing plant has been below half its 920MW capacity.
Meanwhile, successive droughts linked to climate change mean Kariba Dam is also often unable to realise its potential.
Soaring demand
A steadily growing population, rapid rural-to-urban migration and nascent economic recovery — driven by new mining projects in lithium, gold and coal — have spurred demand for power, authorities say.
Last year, in an opinion article for The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said the country’s internal power generation had to increase threefold, “if we are to avoid throttling our growth, and if we are to lessen our dependency on power imports”.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, 41 percent of Zimbabwe’s population of 14,8 million has access to electricity, with the proportion being around 20 percent in rural areas.
Once the backer of a major coal power plant, China could play a major role in boosting desperately needed access to clean energy
The Government’s medium-term economic blueprint — the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) for 2021-2025 — lays out a target for installed generation capacity of 3 467MW and construction of 280 kilometres of transmission and distribution lines.
“This energy supply position would mean that there will be no more energy imports by 2025,” reads the NDS1.
Zimbabwe imports significant amounts of electricity from its neighbours Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa.
And this comes at a huge cost.
ZESA reportedly spent US$72,3 million on electricity imports in the first six months of last year.
To plug the deficit, Government is considering a number of interventions.
The NDS1 targets the “development of an Integrated Energy Resource Master Plan, completion of ongoing energy projects, as well as construction of new energy generating capacity and upgrading, rehabilitation and maintenance of the existing energy infrastructure”.
There are also plans to boost private sector participation in electricity generation through the promotion of independent power producers.
Unlike the case of most of its regional peers, however, Zimbabwe’s access to affordable development aid and concessional loans has been curtailed by two decades of Western sanctions, first imposed by the United States in 2001.
An assessment of the sanctions done in 2022 by UN special rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan concluded that they have negatively impacted the country’s economy, including its ability to establish new power generation sources.
The assessment detailed challenges in the energy sector that include obsolete technology, poor investment levels, as well as obstacles to processing transactions and accessing credit.
A greener energy future
In 2020, more than 40 percent of the country’s power was generated from coal.
Most worryingly, poor households, particularly in rural areas, remain largely dependent on wood for cooking and heating.
According to a preliminary report on the 2022 Population and Housing Census, 60,7 percent of households in Zimbabwe use firewood for cooking, while 38,7 percent use clean energy for their kitchen needs.
The remaining 0,6 percent use coal, charcoal or biogas. In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) in 2021, Zimbabwe made a commitment to cut its carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2050.
“Our experts estimate that we can generate a further 600MW from solar, with an additional 120MW coming from small hydropower projects,” added President Mnangagwa in an opinion piece in July last year.
“Potentially, we can also raise 1 000MW from biomass, with our geothermal energy potential giving us an additional 50MW . . . Wind power has a potential to give us 1 872MW, according to our experts.” Judging from the number of projects that are coming on line, Government might have underestimated the country’s potential for solar power generation.
Speaking to China Dialogue, Energy and Power Development Minister Zhemu Soda emphasised hydropower, as well as on-grid and distributed solar power projects, as central to achieving the country’s climate and energy targets.
Mr Lenin Chisaira, a lawyer and director of the non-profit Advocates4Earth, was more critical.
“Zimbabwe has taken some commendable action on green energy policies, such as the Renewable Energy Policy, Climate Policy and the National Climate Change Response Strategy,” he said.
“However, actual implementation has been very slow and problematic.
“Zimbabwe needs to involve knowledgeable stakeholders from the green business, environmental groups, universities and academia, as well as green energy companies and start-ups in the formulation and implementation of green energy and climate policies. The country must also set up an independent green energy commission.”
Coal
Zimbabwe continues to pursue a number of coal power projects.
RioZim, one of the country’s biggest mining companies, plans to develop a 2 800MW coal power station in Sengwa (Matabeleland North), where massive coal reserves were discovered.
The US$3 billion project ran into turbulence last year after the proposed financier, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), withdrew following China’s pledge to end support for coal power plants overseas.
RioZim is now scouting for new financiers.
Also in the pipeline is the proposed 2 100MW Lusulu thermal power project that, according to Minister Soda, is currently seeking investors.
Further, Government has secured a US$310 million loan from India’s Export-Import Bank to restore the potential of six units at the Hwange Power Station.
The project, expected to restore generation to 96 percent of its 920MW capacity, has the potential to extend the units’ life by 25 years.
Works are expected to commence later this year and be completed by the end of 2028.
From backing coal to supporting the transition
China has been a significant player in Zimbabwe’s energy sector.
ICBC’s withdrawal from the Sengwa project in 2022 was a signal that Chinese overseas investors’ focus had shifted from coal to hydropower and solar.
Along with US-based multinational General Electric, Power China is currently developing the Batoka Gorge hydroelectric plant on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
According to Minister Soda, environmental and social impact assessment studies have already been completed for the plant, though not yet for the additional transmission lines that will be required, since the planned generation capacity of the plant was increased from 1 600MW to 2 400MW.
According to the Zambezi River Authority, a binational body responsible for the project, feasibility studies have also been completed.
Mobilisation of financial resources for the project is reportedly underway.
The project could expedite Zimbabwe’s transition away from dependence on coal for power generation, according to Mr Stephen Dihwa, executive director of the coordination centre of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), a body that coordinates power systems in the region.
Chinese investors have also shown growing appetite for solar power projects.
Recently, China Energy Engineering Corporation proposed the construction of a 1 000MW solar plant at Kariba Dam at a cost of nearly US$1 billion.
Chinese companies have so far signed agreements for solar projects totalling at least 350MW in capacity, according to a briefing paper by the International Institute of Green Finance at China’s Central University of Finance and Economics.
Chinese firm Yaowei Technology also plans to establish a US$15 million solar panel manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe.
The plant is envisaged to produce about 500 solar panels per day.
Mr Golden Kapungu, a lecturer in electrical engineering at the University of Zimbabwe, said the country is underutilising massive potential for alternative energy sources.
“The country has a number of water bodies and some of the best solar radiation belts in the world,” he said.
“There is a need for the Government to . . . adequately invest in this sector. It is not something that can be done overnight, but it can be done and it can save the country revenue and provide the much-needed electricity.”
Zimbabwe, he added, should take advantage of its close relations with China to add fillip to its own green transition.
* This article was produced as a result of a grant provided by the Africa-China Reporting Project at the Wits Centre for Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and China Dialogue Trust.
* Twitter: @kuntowaz
