Three large solar power plants, each generating 100 megawatts (MW), are to be constructed over an 18-month period.
But like many projects the government has announced since last year’s election, it is not clear where the money will come from.
Munacho Mutezo, deputy minister for energy and power, told parliament the solar project would add 300 MW to the national grid. The government is also looking into setting up wind farms to help ease the country’s reliance on hydropower from the Kariba dam.
While acknowledging the solar plans are expensive, Mutezo did not reveal whether the government had found potential funding partners.
Zimbabwe’s energy regulator estimates the country’s energy demand at 2,200 MW. The Kariba hydropower station and the Hwange thermal power station supply around three quarters of this.
The coal-powered Hwange plant has been plagued by a lack of funding to replace aging infrastructure, despite the plant’s potential capacity of around 1,000 MW.
The government-owned Zimbabwe Power Company is working to expand Hwange’s capacity.
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