Minister of Energy and Power
Development Hon E. S. Mangoma Thu Feb 24th, 2011 2:50 PM EST February 2011 “Transparency and Accountability for Service Delivery” 1. Energy is an important enabler for
economic development apart from it
being a symbol of civilization. 2. The electricity supply in this country
is less than demand leading to load
shedding. Zimbabwe generates
between 1300-1400MW against the
national requirement of 2000MW.
There has been no investment in new Power generation since the
commissioning of Hwange Power
Station units 5 & 6 in 1984. There has
also been no meaningful repairs and
maintenance to both the generation
plant and transmission and distribution network over the last 12 years. 3. Great strides have been made to
increase local power generation since
the formation of the Inclusive
Government. All six units at Hwange
are now operational although not yet
stable. Major maintenance at Kariba South was undertaken from September
2010 to January 2011, making it
operate reliably at capacity. The three
small thermals at Munyati, Bulawayo
and Harare have been brought back to
service, although still operating at low capacity. Local generation is now in the
region of 1300MW to 1400MW. This is
the best it has been for over a decade,
but certainly the desired ideal. 4. We are currently importing Power
from Zambia and Mozambique ranging
between 100MW to 300MW. DRC will
export 50-100MW from 1 March 2011.
These countries are willing to export
more power if we pay for the current imports and something towards the
accumulated debt of nearly $100m. 5. The country is exporting 150MW to
Namibia. The tariff on this export is
below cost and ZESA has been
negotiating to increase this tariff to
cover cost of producing the power at
Hwange Power Station. The current situation means that Zimbabwe, despite
its own shortage of electricity is
subsidizing Namibia. This situation has
to be corrected soon. 6. The current rains have exposed the
frailty in the Transmission and
Distribution networks, exposing the
weaknesses for the lack of critical
maintenance over the years.
Substations and transformers have been failing at an alarming rate. Many
poles have tumbled over, succumbing
to white ants, having been in service
beyond their useful lives. ZESA has
been overwhelmed, and in cases have
had to seek outside help. A lot more investment is required to make the
transmission and distribution networks
safe and reliable. 7. To add to the above problems,
vandalism is a major menace. Whole
transmission pylons have been stolen,
so have been the electricity wires. 8. ZESA has failed to resolve the billing
problems and consumers have lost
faith in the billing system. The billing
problems have given a golden
opportunity to some corrupt ZESA
employees to fleece the consumers. The billing system at ZESA is shambolic
and beyond repair. 9. Smart meters will be introduced soon
to deal once and for all with the billing
problems. Consumers will be able to
pay as they consume using the meters
prepayment facility. The smart meters
will be able to ration the electricity so that more people will be able to have it
and reduce load shedding. Consumers
will be able to install their own smart
meters using ZESA accredited installers. 10. ZESA needs a viable tariff to not
only stabilize the current power supply,
but to invest in new capacity. ZESA has
come up with a proposed tariff which I
have put on hold whilst the necessary
consultative processes are being carried out. The small thermals are
expensive to run, hence the power
they produce is also expensive. In the
meantime, there are customers who
have voluntarily enlisted to pay a high
tariff in return for not being load shedded. These are being supplied
from the additional electricity being
generated by these small thermals. 11. The short term objective is to
stabilize the internal generating
capacity at Hwange Power Station,
increase the output of the small
thermals from 65MW to 270MW. This is
then augmented with imports, small hydro power plants and solar. The
Ministry will encourage business to
generate their own electricity – this is called co-generation. 12. The medium term objectives are to: i) Increase generating capacity at
Hwange Power Station by 600MW
(units 7 & 8). ii) Increase generating capacity at
Kariba South by 300MW through either
replacing current units by more
powerful ones, or install additional
units. The recommendations from the
Engineers are expected soon. iii) New on grid solar plants are
expected to come on stream with one
having been licensed. iv) Sengwa Power Station is expected
to come on stream in 2014 and a lot of
progress has been made to date. This
will produce 2500MW when fully
functional. v) Lusulu Power Project has been
licensed and they still have to secure a
coal purchase agreement. It will
produce 2000MW when fully
functional. 13. In ... Load next page...
