HARARE The government has released $5 million for the rehabilitation of old thermal power stations by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), an official said.
ZESA Holdings chief executive officer, engineer Josh Chifamba said the power-utility was allocated $65 million for rehabilitating old thermal power stations and another $5 million for electricity generation and distribution. We were allocated $65 million by government for the refurbishment of old thermal power stations, of which $5 million has been released and put into the rehabilitation of Hwange Power Station and the old power stations. We were also allocated $5 million for power distribution and generation, Chifamba said.
He added that ZESA had no capacity to meet the internal power demand. We are investing mainly in the rehabilitation of
Hwange Power Station which has the capacity to produce 920 megawatts and in the process of reinstating a lot of old thermal power stations, he said.
He said the power utility would soon embark on extensive programme of supplying its customers with energy saver light bulbs. This would see ZESA rolling out 6,3 million compact florescent bulbs expected to save over 200 megawatts. Plans are already underway to ensure that hydro electricity at Kariba South to produces 300 megawatts while long-term plans are to exploit coal bed methane in Batoka for power generation.
Post published in: Manufacturing