Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) will invest US$1 million in a new solar project to be installed at its flagship hotel as it moves to ensure uninterrupted suplies amid power outages, NewsDay Business can report.
The country is in the throes of a national power shortage, resulting in daily power cuts that last several hours on low generation at Kariba South Hydro Power Station, due to low water levels, and Hwange Thermal Power Station.
The hospitality group seeks to provide world-class tourism services by building this solar project at its flagship property, the Rainbow Towers Hotel and Harare International Conference Centre.
RTG chief executive officer Tendai Madziwanyika told NewsDay Business during a tour of the flagship facility that the proposed solar plant would generate 1,2 megawatts (MW). The project will be completed by year-end.
“Kadoma (Kadoma Hotel & Conference Centre) was the first and it is working very well. We have achieved about a 35% reduction in energy costs,” he said.
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“So, whenever there is sun and we do not need the energy, it goes into the national grid. We are excited about that. The next of such projects is going to be right here. As you can see, we have got a lot of space.”
Madziwanyika said the flagship property had parking space and space on top of the Rainbow Towers Hotel and Harare International Conference Centre for the solar project.
“What we want to do is to put up solar panels,” he said.
“The aim is to put up about a 1,2MW system and that is probably going to cost us about US$1 million or so, and we are going to do it this year.”
The group spends close to US$500 000 in annual power costs.
RTG installed a 300 kilo-volt-amperes solar system at its Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre in 2022.
“The aim here is really to reduce the cost of energy. You know, we spend over US$40 000 a month just on energy, and what we want to be able to do is to cut that bill,” Madziwanyika said.
“And also, it will be a contribution to the national grid to help in terms of energy supply, so that will also be grid-tied, in the sense that whenever there’s sun, like now, we can feed into the national grid and help the nation in terms of energy supply.”
He said this means that the group would sell excess power from the proposed solar project to the national grid through the net metering system.
The power utility’s net metering programme allows customers with grid-tied solar systems to sell their excess electricity back to the grid, receiving credits on their electricity bill that they can then use to offset their power consumption.
A customer would net their electricity usage by subtracting the power they fed back into the grid from the power drawn from it, resulting in a reduced electricity bill.
