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African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced $188.6m in funding for Zimbabwean entities during the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Durban, South Africa.

The Zimbabwe government and Zimplats have signed an agreement that will see the platinum miner invest $1.4bn in a series of projects including the construction of a 110MW solar PV power plant. The spending programme also includes a new mine, the expansion of a smelter and construction of an additional concentrator, a base metal refinery and a sulphuric acid plant.

Financial services and property group Old Mutual Zimbabwe launched a 641kW solar PV plant at its Mutual Garden Business Park headquarters, Harare on 3 November. The power plant cost $2.5m and generates enough power to meet the needs of the company’s office complex. Construction of the plant began in March 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the work took longer than anticipated.

Pungwe B Power Station – a special purpose vehicle managed by developer Nyangani Renewable Energy (NRE) – has lost its case against state utility Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Johannesburg over whether it could demand payments in US dollars (USDs).

Independent power producer (IPP) Solgas Energy has connected its flagship project, the 5MW Cross Mabale power plant in Hwange, to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority grid. 

A ruling has been delayed in the arbitration proceedings brought at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Johannesburg by Pungwe B Power Station, a special purpose vehicle managed by developer Nyangani Renewable Energy (NRE), against state-owned utility Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution (ZETDC).

Construction has been completed at three plants that form part of agro-industrial firm Tanganda Tea’s 7.5MWp solar PV and battery energy storage system (Bess). The developments, which Tanganda has privately funded, comprise Zimbabwe’s first large-scale embedded commercial and industrial (C&I) project.

Construction of a 5MW mini-hydro power station downstream of Lake Mutirikwi in Masvingo province will start in November, project developers have said. The Great Zimbabwe Hydro power project is licensed for 25 years, with Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) as the offtaker.

Construction has started on the first phase of a 1.9MWp solar PV and 3.9MWh battery energy storage system (Bess) at agro-industrial company Nhimbe Fresh’s estate in Marondera, Zimbabwe. First announced in November 2020, the $5.3m project is being developed by South African crowdfunding platform Sun Exchange, which recently raised another round of funding.

Development of the 3.84MW Tsanga A hydroelectric power station is being affected by issues over payment terms. Nyangani Renewable Energy (NRE) managing director Ian McKersie said the parties to its power purchase agreement (PPA) – Tsanga Power Stations (TPS) and Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) subsidiary Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) – were having difficulty in agreeing what currency payments should be made in.

Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) is halting support for two solar PV projects after grid impact assessments found that existing infrastructure was insufficient to evacuate power from them.

ZETDC has been taken to arbitration by developer NRE in a dispute over US dollar payments, in a case with significant implications for the country’s struggling power sector and which also highlights the macroeconomic problems weighing on the Mnangagwa administration, writes Marc Howard

Zimbabwe became a global byword for economic mismanagement when reckless government printing of the Zimbabwe dollar (ZWD) in the 2000s led to hyperinflation that peaked at 500bn% in September 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Tatanga Energy chief executive Tunde Akerele told African Energy that China Machinery Engineering Company (CMEC) had been selected as preferred engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the first 50MWp stage of the Sable Chemicals solar PV plant in Kwekwe, Midlands Province. This followed an international tender last year; the EPC contract is under negotiation.

Zimbabwe is preparing to sell a stake in the state-owned fuel marketing and distribution company Petrotrade in the next few months, African Energy understands. Petrotrade – which has the mandate to market and distribute petroleum products, including diesel, gasoline, lubricants and liquid petroleum gas – is seeking a strategic partner to inject fresh capital into the business in order to improve operational capacity and enable it to expand its footprint.