THE Energy and Power Development ministry has said it will seek to decentralise energy systems countrywide and setup various power stations.
LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI/MAMELO NKOMO
Addressing guests during celebrations at Tshitatshawa Primary School in Tsholotsho district to mark the successful completion of the electrification project in the area, the ministry’s permanent secretary Patterson Mbiriri said they were working on improving power supplies in the region.
He said they were targeting the Gwayi Power Station, which is expected to produce 600MW and would also upgrade Makomo to a power station, which is also expected to ease power shortages with its 600MW output.
“We are working hard as a ministry to deal with these power outages so that we have adequate electricity in a few years to come,” Mbiriri said.
“We will upgrade Makomo to a power station and we’ll also furnish up our Gwayi Power Station.”
He said they were presently working on the Batoka Power Station which will generate2 000MW and Zimbabwe will get 1 000MW, while Zambia will get the remaining half.
“We have a project that we are working on and the Batoka will contribute immensely to our country because we will produce close to a 2 000MW, which we will share with Zambia in this joint project,” he said.
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He acknowledged that the country faced a skilled personnel shortage, as it only had 60 artisans who were trained in Zambia.
“We sent 60 artisans to Zambia,” he said.
“Zambia is far ahead of us in terms of biogas digesters and that is why we sent our artisans there for training.
“We hope they will come back and teach their fellow countrymen.”
The target is that by 2017 Zimbabwe should be having adequate electricity supplies and each province must have two state-of-the-art biogas digesters.
