Zimbabwe: Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando Divulged Zimbabwe has the Proclivity to Reap Three Billion in an Annual Energy Exports
By Abdul Rahman Bangura–
NEW AFRICA BUSINESS NEWS (NABN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- Minister of Mines and Mining Development of Zimbabwe – Winston Chitando. Disclosed that; Zimbabwe’s arising power projects have the probable to amass at least three billion dollars ($3 billion) in an annual energy exports from the recent stance of energy deficit. Chitando announced this, when he met a news conference in Harare on July 29th, 2020 to dispense a synopsis of President Mnangagwa’s two-day working visits of coal mining and power generation projects in Hwange earlier in July of this year.
Saying in Hwange during the visit, President Mnangagwa announced, he had been instilled by work on the ground which he said will oversee Zimbabwe not only to accomplish energy self-sufficiency, but also into being an energy exporter. Power generation projects visited by President Mnangagwa in Hwange include Zambezi Gas and Coal Mine which is envisaged to generate 750 Megawatts (MW) on completion. Also working on power generating projects are Western Areas (600MW), Jinan (600MW), Tsingshan (100MW) and Zimbabwe Zhongxin Electrical Energy (430MW).
Most of these projects are expected to start running from 2023. Also on the way is a coal bed methane (CBM) power plant for which the Government expects to sign a deal for the construction of a 450MW power station before the end of August.
Apparently, proposals are similarly at an avant-garde stage for the constitution of a 2 100MW power station in Binga, but modalities of this project are still being worked.
“In addition to that (power projects in Hwange), there will be an agreement that will be signed before the end of August for a CBM power plant which will, when operational, generate 450 MW of electricity,” noted Minister Chitando.
“There are plans for the establishment of a 2 100MW power station in Binga. The combined projects, the ones visited by His Excellency (in Hwange) and the other ones (being worked on) will give us 5 030MW.
“Now, if you look at it from a perspective that with Hwange 7 and 8 coming on stream and an element that various mining companies are undertaking a number of solar interventions which when fully rolled out will result in over 500MW being added into the grid.
“So we are looking at 5 030MW purely being electricity for export. So if one assumes a tariff of 7 US cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) it means we are looking at an electricity export industry of US$3 billion when fully rolled out,” Chitando remarked.
Government’s estimates premised on 7 US cents kwh are rather conservative considering the energy deficit that is expected to hit Southern Africa in the medium to
long-term. And already South Africa, the region’s economic and industrial powerhouse, is encountering power outages, a situation that is anticipated to shove power prices up. The region is also undergoing a steady rise in industrial productivity which has seen the World Bank casting need for electricity to increase by 40% over the subsequent ten years. SADC member states, among other procedures, are being motivated to collaborate on electricity mode and improvement and facilitate power pooling and trade.
For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent
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