The 5MW Great Zimbabwe Hydropower Project has been commissioned, providing a win for local investors struggling to raise funding to get independent power projects off the ground.
The mini-hydro project, at the Mutirikwi dam wall, was built with funding from a mix of local pension funds and foreign capital.
“The successful completion of the Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Plant is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships in driving economic development,” says Samuel Matsekete, CEO of Old Mutual Zimbabwe, which invested in the project via Old Mutual Life Assurance. Earlier this year, Old Mutual launched a US$100 million private equity fund targeting renewable energy investments.
Other investors are the Public Service Pension Fund, ZB Financial Holdings, Frontier Energy, MOL Power and the Danish Investment Fund. Local contractors on the project included JR Goddard and Masimba Holdings.
Zimbabwe faces a deepening power crisis, the result of years of underinvestment in new power generation capacity. The country has sought to attract Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to plug the gap, but concerns over sub-economic tariffs and uncertain currency policies have kept investors away. In March, the government granted tariff guarantees to ten independent power producers, with a combined potential of 271MW, hoping to speed up the implementation of green energy projects. The producers – which included Great Zimbabwe Hydro – were given a tariff of US 9 cents a kilowatt hour.
The completion of the Great Zimbabwe Hydro will cheer local investors trying to raise capital for similar projects.
“I am delighted to see the Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Project commissioned and begin contributing to Zimbabwe’s electricity generation.” said Memory Mashingaidze , co-founder and Executive Director of Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power and MOL Power. “We take this moment to recognise and celebrate a remarkable achievement and look forward with optimism as we hand the baton from the construction to the operations team.”
It is the debut project in Zimbabwe for Frontier Energy, which is partly backed by British International Investment, the UK’s development finance arm.
“The Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Project is Frontier Energy’s first project in Zimbabwe. We hope and expect to participate in the creation of many more renewable energy projects in this beautiful country and in this way participate in the expansion of Zimbabwe’s power generation capacity,” said Kim Gredsted, one of the founding partners of Frontier Energy.
On Sunday, ZESA announced it would cut off power to parts of Masvingo province. This is to allow the commissioning of the plant. The plant features two 2.7 MW Francis turbines, providing a total power output of 5.4 MW.
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