We expect more investors in solar, wind and hydro
BUSINESSMAN and politician Mr MOYO (EM) was recently appointed the new Minister of Energy and Power Development. He to ramp up power production to meet demand from a growing economy, particularly as the mining industry continues to expand. Our reporter DEBRA MATABVU(DM) sat down with him last week to hear his plans.
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DM: Congratulations on your appointment as the new Minister of Energy and Power Development. Can you begin by outlining your vision for the energy sector?
EM: Firstly, I am looking at ensuring energy and power security in the country.
Power output should be predictable, consistent and affordable.
That is my first goal. So we need to create a balance on all those issues.
I am also looking at rehabilitating power infrastructure, particularly transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Although we appreciate that a lot of work was done to rehabilitate and ensure increased access to power for both rural and urban domestic users as well as industries, more work needs to be done.
Over the years, power infrastructure has dilapidated and needs to be reconstructed. This will help with connecting power to more communities and industries.
So, in essence, the vision is aligned with National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which is to ensure our communities have access to power, especially industries and mining companies.
Government’s thrust is to grow the economy through manufacturing and production, so power is a key enabler.
We want to ensure that it is achieved and we move in tandem with Vision 2030.
DM: You spoke of increased power generation. However, the country has been witnessing power cuts over the past few weeks. Is the country going back to loadshedding?
A: Unit 8 was put off the grid for maintenance and repairs a few weeks back and it was put back on the grid last week (September 22). So the power cuts were a temporary issue that had to do with repairs.
In addition, Hwange Units One to Six need to be refurbished as they no longer perform optimally, so they are receiving attention.
DM: Still on Hwange Units One to Six, what progress has been made with regards to refurbishing the units?
EM: Two of the units are currently off grid and are being refurbished.
All the units will not be taken out for repairs and refurbishment at the same time; they will
be taken out in stages.
Overall, the bigger picture is that by refurbishing Units One to Six, we are working to ensure increased power generation.
DM: Can you outline your plans for increasing power generation from renewable energy sources?
EM: In terms of power generation, our key strength as a country is thermal, which is Hwange, and a bit of hydro (Kariba).
However, we are now working with a lot of partners — Independent Power Producers (IPPs) — who are coming on board, so we have more energy coming from that sector. We expect to have more investors in solar, wind and hydro energy.
We are also working with ZESA so that they come on board in generating clean renewable energy.
Announcements will be made when all processes have been done.
DM: The energy-intensive mining sector has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last few years. What are your plans to guarantee power to old and new players in the sector?
EM: The mining sector is certainly growing and there is increased productivity in line with the country’s Vision 2030.
Some of the mines are already taking the initiative and are generating their own power.
A good example is Blanket Mine in Gwanda and Zimplats, to some extent, they are doing that. So we are encouraging big conglomerates to also produce their own power so that when they have excess, they can send it to the national grid.
However, our thrust is to continue generating adequate power so that we can connect small mines that cannot produce their own power yet.
DM: We are anticipating decreased generation from Kariba as we head into the lean months of the year. Are there any plans to import power to plug that gap?
EM: We are already importing power, but our vision is to reduce imports and increase local generation of power.
The effect of power imports from an economic perspective is that, by importing power, we are using scarce foreign currency to develop other economies other than ours.
So we are working on various initiatives to increase our generation in the country and, therefore, reduce imports.
However, we cannot completely remove imports, because we need backup in case we have an unexpected power emergency in the country.
Therefore, from the imports that we have, we are not looking at increasing.
We want to maintain what we have while increasing local production.
DM: Fuel prices have been rising in recent weeks. What has caused this increase and how will it affect Zimbabwe?
EM: The recent fuel rise, which was not very significant, saw prices increasing by three and five cents for diesel and petrol, respectively, and was occasioned by a rise in international prices of fuel. So producers offloaded that increase onto the retail prices.
DM: Last year, President Mnangagwa announced a US$800 million rural electrification deal with Rwanda. Can you outline the progress that has been made in implementing that programme?
EM: It is an ongoing discussion between Rwanda Energy Group and Zesa.
In the next few weeks or months, we will be updated on what is happening.
Every week, we have a working group between Zimbabwe and Rwanda, and they have weekly virtual meetings in which they discuss several issues.
We are focused on that and it is going to be a major game-changer.
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