Companies Engage ZESA Over Dedicated Power Lines
Several major companies are in negotiations with power utility ZESA Holdings to secure dedicated power lines that are exempt from load shedding in order to keep their production lines operating constantly.
Since the August general elections, electricity consumers have been enduring up to 16 hours of unscheduled power cuts as ZESA struggles to meet electricity demand.
ZESA’s power-generating unit, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) is producing about 1 000 megawatts (MW) against a national demand of 1 850MW.
Delta CEO, Matts Valela told Business Times that they are willing to pay whatever ZESA charges them, all that they need is s dedicated power line. Said Valela:
Unavailable electricity is worse than expensive electricity whereby one runs generators to keep producing.
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That way we are eating into our revenues hence we need a dedicated power supply at the rate the power utility would want us to pay.
Valela said solar power is not used in heavy industries because it varies with the sun’s setting. He said:
There is a need to buy big batteries to avoid power fluctuations therefore we would rather wait and see how the solar technology is progressing then down the road we can use it if we find it viable.
Even industrialised countries do not use solar for industrial use.
Also speaking to Business Times, Stanley Muchenje, managing director of African Distillers (AfDIS), said:
We are pushing for a dedicated power line to supply AfDIS, Windmill, Seed Co and Solar Farm among others with uninterrupted power.
We have been engaging the power utility even to help to do repairs but ZESA remains silent.
Last month, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Gloria Magombo, warned Zimbabweans to prepare for crippling power cuts in the coming few months as the El Nino weather phenomenon is expected to negatively impact rainfall patterns resulting in reduced water inflows at Lake Kariba, the site of the country’s most reliable power plant.
Earlier this month, the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Edgar Moyo said that the country will start experiencing reduced load shedding at the end of November when Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 is back on the national grid.
More: Pindula News
