ZESA Holdings executive chairman Sydney Gata has said they are moving to install a utility scale battery energy storage system to minimise power cuts being experienced in the country.
Addressing a Press conference yesterday, Gata said the current power cuts were due to hydrological issues being experienced at Kariba and a technical fault at Hwange.
He said to minimise the hours of ongoing load shedding, Zesa would install a utility scale battery energy storage system of 1 800MWh (1.8GWh).
“The system will provide three hours of 600 Mhw during morning and evening peaks. This will substantially reduce load-shedding, besides providing some benefits to system operations,” Gata said.
This, according to Gata, is one of the immediate solutions the company is going to implement to reduce power cuts across the country.
“The project is already at the procurement level. The energy to charge the batteries will be supplied, or procured off peak,” he said.
On Saturday, Zesa Holdings released a statement saying the ongoing power outages were as a result of a technical fault at Hwange 8. It said the technical fault had resulted in increased load-shedding around the country.
“Zesa Holdings would like to inform its valued customers that the national power grid is currently experiencing reduced electricity generation capacity due to a technical challenge that occurred at the Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 8,” the statement read.
However, in his statement, Gata said the fault was normal and the situation has been attended to.
“These are normal technical hitches that happen during infancy of any new plants and I am glad to notify you that our engineers have resolved this and we expect to synchronise the unit to be back online soon,” he said.
The Zesa Holdings boss added that the company was also facing significant cash flow challenges, with a negative variance between cash received and cash obligations, despite a cost-reflective tariff approved by the government in December 2023.
“The utility is struggling to meet its critical obligations, including loan repayments for the Hwange 7 and 8 expansion project, Afreximbank loan obligations, and essential expenses such as water, coal, fuel, and spares for generation, transmission, and distribution.”
In addition, Gata said the company had introduced more raft measures to minimise power cuts and increase electricity generation capacity as well as enable every household to receive electricity by 2030. He said the utility is finalising an agreement with Jindal of India to repower Hwange units 1-6, expected to increase output from 485MW to 840MW.
“Jindal will invest in four new units at Hwange, adding 1 200MW of new capacity,” Gata said.
Zesa has also partnered ferrochrome companies to generate 300MW of thermal power, with the first 100MW expected by mid-2025.