Author: roofwalker

Zimbabwe hopes to achieve the high economic growth rates needed to move toward upper middle-income status by 2030, but to achieve this it will be critical to realize stable and reliable electricity access, according to the latest Zimbabwe Economic Update (ZEU). Zimbabwe’s power shortages are estimated to cost the country a total of 6.1% of GDP per year, comprising 2.3% of GDP in generation inefficiencies and excessive network losses and 3.8% of GDP on the downstream costs of unreliable energy.

Despite some recent achievements, Zimbabwe’s electricity sector still faces major challenges. The country still suffers from significant power deficits. In 2020, the available generation capacity was 1,585 MW compared with a peak demand of 1,900 MW, forcing power outages of 12–14 hours a day. While the government commissioned an additional 600 MW at the Hwange power station in 2023, installed capacity is still insufficient to meet demand, and rolling blackouts significantly burden Zimbabwe’s economic growth and competitiveness. The pace of rural electrification has slowed down. Between 2014 and 2020, overall energy access expanded from 32 to 53%, driven by a rapid rise in access in rural areas (from 8 up to 37%).

“The electricity deficits have been weighing on the economy, particularly in mining, by reducing the margins of existing operations and on the feasibility evaluations for expansions and new projects. The shortages also affect the agriculture and agro-processing sectors by undermining irrigation, cold chain, and storage facilities. Tourism is also affected by the disruption of essential services. These effects translate into lower economic growth and household incomes,” says Victor Steenbergen, Senior Country Economist for the World Bank in Zimbabwe,.

Peak electricity demand is projected to grow substantially, and achieving universal electricity access will require large investments, especially in solar power and grid expansion. Medium-term World Bank projections suggest that electricity demand will grow from 1,950 MW in 2022 to 5,177 MW by 2030, driven primarily by increasing demand from the mining and agriculture sectors. Achieving universal access by 2030 will require annual connections to increase from 25,000 in 2020 to about 537,000 annually.

“Estimates for least-cost generation expansion indicate that, in the short-to-medium term (2024–26), utility-scale home solar systems would be the fastest units to provide additional capacity, adding more than 1,500 MW that would ensure the system can meet growing demand,” says Joel Maweni, Energy Consultant and co-author of the Zimbabwe Economic Update.

Subsequently, generation expansion efforts would comprise gas power plants, hydropower, and more solar. The associated grid network expansion to 2030 is estimated to cost $4.4 billion. While the government is planning to expand electricity access through various sources, it remains unclear how the investment needed will be financed. The biggest planned increase in electricity supply comes from the Batoka Gorge Project along the border with Zambia (1,200 MW for Zimbabwe) projected for completion after 2034, and the Devil’s Gorge (1,200 MW) to be completed by 2040.

“Financing electricity expansion from domestic resources alone will be challenging, so there is an urgent need to involve more private investors and the international development community,” says Christopher Saunders, World Bank Senior Energy Specialist.

The ZEU provides some recommendations to help attain the government’s ambitious targets to achieve reliable and universal energy access by 2030:

1. Develop an energy roadmap covering structural, policy, and utility reforms to achieve sustainable financial viability and affordable and reliable universal access to electricity for economic and social development.
2. Strengthen the financial performance of the power sector through a policy of cost-reflective tariffs, cross-subsidized tariffs for vulnerable consumers, a plan to improve the efficiency of power companies and loss reduction, and a mechanism to restructure power companies’ legacy debt.
3. Strengthen the technical planning and institutional coordination for power system expansion planning, implementation, and monitoring at the Ministry of Energy and Power Development level.
4. Promote private energy sector investments by streamlining regulations for small-scale energy investments, and improved coordination across regulatory agencies to ensure consistent, light-handed regulatory approaches and enforcement across all energy investment projects.

The ZEU finds that Zimbabwe’s interconnected problems of electricity supply and access are ultimately driven by three underlying issues: weak financial performance of energy companies, insufficient central planning and coordination, and limited private sector participation. The weak financial state of Zimbabwe’s electricity companies is the most significant issue driving the country’s power supply deficits and slowing the expansion of universal access to electricity services. Energy tariffs do not reflect the financial costs of energy generation and distribution, leading to significant losses for power companies. The inefficiencies of the utility companies complicate this.

High debt servicing costs also burden energy companies. Insufficient revenues and high debt lead to cashflow shortages, which in turn constrain the companies from investing in new generation, transmission, and distribution assets, including in access expansion; attracting private sector investment and commercial financing for the sector’s investment plan; adequately maintaining existing assets; and forcing them to import power from neighboring countries to satisfy electricity demand consistently

Stricter regulations and better consumer awareness could be the answer, but slow legislation remains a stumbling block

Pardon Mahuntse has a deep understanding of climate change. He is well aware of the harsh reality facing the arid part of Zimbabwe he calls home, which has been getting even drier. So every time the 66 year old sees the huge solar photovoltaic panel sitting idle in his home, he chokes with anger.

The retired school teacher from Chikombedzi in the rural south-east of the country bought the panel for USD 350 in 2016 from an informal trader. He thought it would be perfect for powering a pump to irrigate the vegetables he has been growing: a project he anticipated would generate income to support a blissful retirement. Mahuntse scraped together hard-earned savings to invest in the solar panel, along with a battery, water pump and other accessories.    

However, his dream project floundered when he discovered that only a small section of the panel was genuine. The rest was just paint and glass.

Like Mahuntse, individuals and communities across the African continent are adapting to climate change by adopting practices that mitigate its effects. These include irrigation, renewable-power generation, and conservation farming. Such practices rely on equipment like solar panels, batteries, inverters, water pumps, and lighting systems.

These green-energy products can spearhead the energy transition, but progress is being hampered by unscrupulous suppliers selling low-quality imitations and outright fakes. In Zimbabwe, both low-quality and defective products are entering the country legally and illegally.

Rectifying the issue is a pressing concern given the southern African country’s unreliable national grid and low rate of electricity access. However, new laws and standards to tighten up the quality of imports have been stuck at the draft stage for years. Though efforts are being made to train solar installers in distinguishing between quality and inferior products, experts tell Dialogue Earth that stricter customs enforcement, as well as public-awareness campaigns, are sorely needed.

A huge market

On Harare’s bustling streets, where Mahuntse acquired his equipment, informal traders hawk their wares. Here, prices are undeniably lower and bargaining is practically an art form. But with warranties being an alien concept, these bargains carry big risks.

The sales pitch presented to Mahuntse was appealing: a hefty 450-watt capacity. But in reality, the solar panel had less than 100 watts, he tells Dialogue Earth.

The battery also fell far short of its promised capacity. “The 200 [amp hour] gel battery could be charged to full, only for the charge to drop within a few hours, even without being used,” he says. With the pump, “not once did it reach its rated output of 1,400 litres per hour”, he notes. “In less than a month, it had broken down.”

The influx of poor-quality products into Zimbabwe can be traced to when the country adopted a Look East policy in 2003, says Rosemary Mpofu, executive director of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ). The policy was introduced to mitigate economic impacts from Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

“Ordinary consumers have a tendency of considering pricing over quality… Some of the products are imitations, counterfeits and of questionable quality,” Mpofu tells Dialogue Earth. This includes solar-photovoltaic products.     

Phillip December, an electronics technician in Harare with over two decades of experience, has witnessed the full spectrum of green technology in the capital.

“Most of these green energy products are either of very poor quality or are plain fakes,” he notes.

Deceptive labelling, he says, is just the tip of the iceberg. “Some products don’t just come with misleading labels, but also their sizes are usually falsified,” he explains.

“From phone batteries to power banks, all the way up to domestic and industrial solar units, it’s commonplace to find these things stuffed with sand, glass, or some other cheap, weighty filler,” he explains.

Tom Herud, a hardware and electrical goods dealer based in downtown Harare, oversees 12 shops, and imports at least four shipping containers of products from China monthly. He says that about a third of his products are solar equipment. “China has all standards of products for all markets, so I import what I know can sell in the market that I serve,” he tells Dialogue Earth.

“We get these products very cheap there and we also sell them very cheap here because there is a huge market for them,” says Herud. Fakes find a place in the market, he adds.

At his workshop, Herud has a team of three technicians who specialise in repairing malfunctioning goods. He says that, of the solar equipment he sells, about 20% is returned. While he only imports from China, similar products come from India, Dubai, Pakistan and Indonesia, he adds.

To reduce the number of poor-quality products distributed, Mpofu says there is a need to curb smuggling at ports of entry and to conduct consumer-awareness campaigns about adopting smart shopping trends. “It should be a holistic approach by all sectors involved,” she notes.

Protecting consumers

Back in 2015, Zimbabwe’s Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) announced plans to set up a laboratory to test solar equipment entering the domestic market. The lab was supposed to be a collaboration with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.   

Nearly a decade on, the lab is “yet to be procured by the authority,” says ZERA’s chief executive officer Edington Mazambani.       

Also in 2015, ZERA announced it would draft minimum-quality standards for importers and retailers of solar equipment. So far, these regulations have not passed the draft stage. In the same year, the government appointed certification company Bureau Veritas to carry out pre-shipment inspections of certain products, including electrical goods, to ensure they are up to scratch. However, a 2019 report on this programme by Zimbabwe’s auditor-general Mildred Chiri revealed “shortcomings” that resulted in the bulk of imports escaping scrutiny.

“The programme did not have critical provisions that could help in combating [the] influx of substandard goods,” the report stated.

“The fact that most of the goods were not being checked for quality … increased the risk of substandard goods finding their way into the country,” it added.

Sub-standard products continue to proliferate in the market due to unscrupulous traders capitalising on the heightened demand for solar equipment and exploiting buyers’ inadequate understanding. This is despite Zimbabwe having passed a Consumer Protection Act in 2019 to defend consumers from such suppliers.

To try and close existing knowledge gaps in the meantime, ZERA has started nationwide campaigns to train technicians in solar-system design and installation, in partnership with the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre and the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT).

HIT engineer Emmanuel Ndala says the short course helps trainees identify counterfeits and poor-quality products.

Mahuntse’s veg-growing project was finally able to take off when he sold two of his six cattle to purchase better quality products from neighbouring South Africa.

As Zimbabwe and the broader southern African region face a continued power crisis and rationing due to droughts and ageing infrastructure, Mahuntse hopes regulation, inspection, awareness and import controls all work together to keep shoddy solar products out of the market.

“Experience like mine slows down the uptake of solar … perpetuating the current energy poverty,” he said.

Zimbabwe has approved a $45 million fund to support renewable energy solutions.

Local media outlets have reported that the investment includes $10 million from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Fund, alongside an additional $35 million from the government of Zimbabwe and local partners such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe and Old Mutual Investment Group.

The fund – which has been developed by Unesco, UNWOMEN and the United Nations Development Programme, alongside the government of Zimbabwe – is expected to largely focus on leveraging private investments.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon said at Zimbabwe’s recent 5th International Renewable Energy Conference and Expo 2024 that the $45 million investment “signifies a concrete commitment to driving sustainable development and progress in our nation … By promoting the adoption of renewable energy sources, the United Nations supports the Government of Zimbabwe in mitigating climate change, improving energy access, and driving socio-economic progress.”

The government has also given the green light to 10 independent power producer (IPP) projects to start generating electricity within the next two years. The projects have a combined capacity of 271 MW and include six solar installations: the 10 MW Mutorashanga Indo Africa Solar plant, the 5.5 MW Guruve Solar array, the 50 MW De Green Rhino Solar plant, the 10 MW Equinox Solar project, the 10.5 MW Murombedzi Solar array, and the 30 MW Energywise Vungu Solar project.

Zimbabwe’s focus on renewables comes as it attempts to lessen its reliance on energy imports and improve access to electricity, as World Bank data shows that just 49% of the country had access in 2021. The country still faces significant power deficits, which contribute to regular power outages. A Zimbabwe Economic Update published by the World Bank in December said that the weak financial performance of energy companies, insufficient central planning, and limited private sector participation have been exacerbating problems with electricity supply and access.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa also said last week that the country is “ready to welcome more investors and partners to take up opportunities to promote new energy technologies and smart off-grid systems across the country … Our statistics reflect that Zimbabwe is making steady progress in stabilising and increasing total energy output. However, more work must be done to ensure consistent access to clean energy across our provinces, including in rural communities.”

At the end of 2022, the government said it would expedite the commissioning of 27 solar IPP installations at a total cost of around $1 billion. Plans for Zimbabwe’s first utility-scale green hydrogen power plant, with 178 GWh of expected annual electricity production, were finalized in March 2023.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Zimbabwe had deployed 41 MW of solar by the end of 2022.

By: PATRICK JOWETT – https://www.pv-magazine.com/

With a rising focus on solar energy as a sustainable alternative, Zimbabwe’s energy environment has undergone a considerable transition. This transformation has not, however, been without difficulties. A closer examination of the causes of the challenges the solar industry is facing as the nation works to harness the power of the sun finds a complex interplay of economic, infrastructural, and policy-related problems.

Like many other countries, Zimbabwe is aware of the potential of solar energy as a sustainable and clean source of energy. Solar energy seems like a perfect choice for a nation struggling with energy shortages and environmental issues because it receives enough of sunlight throughout the year. There is a lot of interest in solar projects due to the promise of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and decreased reliance on fossil fuels.

Despite the promise, it has not been an easy transition from darkness to light. The high upfront cost involved with installing solar infrastructure is one of the main obstacles. Although the cost of solar panels and related technology has decreased over time, the initial outlay is still a substantial barrier for both homes and businesses. Securing funding for solar installations can be difficult in a nation where economic hardship is common.

Additionally, the development of the solar business has been hampered by the absence of a thorough and reliable regulatory structure. Investors and developers may be put off by inconsistent policies and frequently changing regulations, which can obstruct long-term commitment and planning. For the industry to prosper and inspire confidence in both domestic and foreign investors, a transparent and well-defined regulatory environment is essential.

The condition of the electrical grid is another essential element. Although solar energy offers a decentralized solution, integrating renewable energy sources into the current grid infrastructure is crucial. Due to underinvestment and maintenance concerns, Zimbabwe’s electricity grid has experienced frequent blackouts and unreliable power delivery. The integration of solar electricity into such an unstable grid presents technical difficulties that must be resolved for the sector to grow.

In addition, problems with knowledge and skill gaps have emerged. A trained workforce is required for designing, installing, and maintaining solar systems if the solar business is to thrive. To give people the skills they need to advance the industry, training programmes and educational activities are necessary.

The solar business in Zimbabwe faces some challenges, but they are not insurmountable. Through a number of programmes and regulations as of 2021, the government has demonstrated a growing commitment to renewable energy. These include the Rural Electrification Master Plan and the National Renewable Energy Policy, both of which highlight the importance of solar energy in the nation’s energy mix. Such policy frameworks set the groundwork for a climate that is more favorable for the growth of the solar industry.

The involvement of the corporate sector is also proving to be a glimmer of optimism. International and domestic businesses are starting to look into joint ventures and investment opportunities in the solar industry. Increased competition and cooperation will probably spur innovation, cut costs, and boost the industry’s overall growth.

By 2024, a more lively environment may be in store for Zimbabwe’s solar industry, according to future projections. Significant progress might be made as a result of the interaction of encouraging regulations, more private sector involvement, and rising public understanding of solar energy’s advantages. Solar panels may become even more cost-effective and efficient as technology advances, increasing the investment’s appeal to a wider spectrum of customers.

In conclusion, Zimbabwe’s transition from solar energy’s darkness to light is characterized by both opportunities and obstacles. Given the nation’s solar resources and the global shift towards cleaner energy sources, the industry’s development potential is apparent. Zimbabwe can create the conditions for a robust solar business by tackling major challenges such legislative inconsistency, grid reliability, and financial constraints. The country can fully use solar energy and shine brilliantly on the road to a sustainable energy future with the correct legislation, investments, and community involvement.

By Mohan Gupta – https://solarquarter.com/