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Independent power producer Solgas Power Energy has completed construction of its 5MW solar PV plant at Cross Mabale in Hwange, Matabeleland North province and will commission the plant at the end of July. The plant is entering the testing phase, while an interconnection line is being completed, chief financial officer Tafadzwa Mundicha said.

Coal miner Zambezi Gas and Coal has started construction work on a thermal power plant, which will have a total capacity of 750MW. The work is being carried out in two phases, with an initial 150MW to be followed by a 600MW second phase. “The first phase will cost us about $250m and the whole project $1.7bn,” chairman Linos Masimura told African Energy.

National oil company Petrozim Line has awarded a ten-month contract to Penspen for work on the 208km Feruka-Harare pipeline, which the UK-based firm originally designed. Penspen will deliver engineering and procurement support services for the multi-product pipeline project.

Independent power producer Zimbabwe Zhongxin Electrical Energy (ZZEE) will connect an initial 25MW to the grid under the 50MW first phase of the 320MW coal-fired project at Deka Bridge Farm in Hwange within the next two months. The company is close to completing construction (80%) of a 13km power line linking the plant to the Zimbabwe Power Company grid.

Local developer New Sahara Ventures’ two off-grid solar PV plants have suffered delays due to shortages of foreign currency and the escalating price of solar equipment. The regional-focused renewables company is the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the 5.5MW Guruve solar park in Mashonaland Central province. While the project could have finished earlier, chief executive Trymore Sharata said he now expected completion by December.

Heads of state don’t routinely sign exploration agreements with single asset IOCs, but Zimbabwe needs investment to provide some good news for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s hard-pressed regime. Citing changing market conditions and improvements to local regulations, the Australian partner is exuding confidence that it can make the prospect viable in a region where gas was discovered by Mobil in the early 1990s but reserves were unexploited due to a lack of regional demand and Zimbabwe’s economic chaos.

Gold miner RioZim expects to start construction in August or September on solar PV plants at four of its sites, totalling 178MW of capacity. Board vice chairman Caleb Dengu told African Energy Covid restrictions had caused delays as contractors had been unable to travel to Zimbabwe until they were vaccinated. RioZim plans solar plants at the Renco gold mine in Masvingo, the Cam and Motor and Dalny gold mines in Mashonaland West, and its Murowa diamond mine in Midlands Province.

Distributed Power Africa (DPA) recently completed the installation of a 1.8MWp diesel-solar hybrid plant at Tanganda Tea Company’s Ratelshoek estate in Manicaland, which forms part of a wider 7.5MW solar programme across the company’s estates. Tanganda’s sites had suffered from frequent power cuts in recent years that interrupted tea production.

Campaigners have attacked the proposed development of the 2,400MW Batoka Gorge hydroelectric scheme on the Zambezi River, arguing the dam will destroy tourism and that the coronavirus pandemic has prevented proper consultations with affected communities, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi in Harare.

Two sets of rehabilitation work on the Kariba dam are progressing on schedule and will be completed before the end of 2024, the Zimbabwe River Authority (ZRA) has said. Work on the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project comprises reshaping the plunge pool and refurbishing the spillway gates to enhance the structural integrity of the dam wall. The dam, on the Zambezi River, was built between 1955 and 1959.

Differences over who should undertake a new feasibility study for the Gwanda solar project are delaying the signing of a revised contract between the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and contractors IntraTrek and Chint Electric Company. In July, Cabinet approved a revised implementation plan for the 100MW Gwanda solar PV project, in which the developers agreed to evacuate the first 10MW of the project to the national grid within six months of financial close, and brought in African Transmission Corporation (ATC) as transaction adviser for the project.

The 50MW first phase of a coal-fired power plant being built by independent power producer Zimbabwe Zhongxin Electrical Energy (ZZEE) at Deka Bridge Farm in Hwange is due for completion by year-end, a government minister has told African Energy. Energy and power development minister Soda Zhemu said construction of the $50m station started last year.

Online solar cell leasing platform Sun Exchange has launched its first project outside South Africa, and its first project to use battery storage, at fresh produce exporter Nhimbe Fresh’s farm in Zimbabwe. The $5.3m project will also be the first with a US dollar-pegged, fixed lease price, which Sun Exchange is hoping will help expand its user base internationally. The project is its largest to date and the company raised $4m in a Series A funding round led by a $3m investment from ARCH Emerging Market Partners this year.

Investors, contractors and financiers have been reassessing southern Africa’s potential to emerge as a natural gas producer, supply hub and importer of molecules and electrons for gas-to-power (GTP) schemes. Mozambique’s emergence as an LNG exporter gives it potential to develop new gas-based industry and infrastructure. Developments in southern Mozambique further suggest it could drive a wider regional industry, with more gas exported by pipeline.

Jersey-registered Caledonia Mining Corporation has selected Voltalia to build a 12MW solar plant at the Blanket gold mine near Gwanda. Caledonia said in September that it had raised $13m via a share issue to finance the project.