THE Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) says power output in the 11 months to November 2016 is 7,03 percent below target with a total 6282GWh energy sent out against a target of 6757GWh largely on lower water level and delays in procurement of spares.
“Our output for January 2016 to date has been consistently lower than the output in the corresponding months last year due to the ongoing water conservation efforts at Lake Kariba. The liquidity crunch did not spare us either, hence, hampering procurement of spares as well as operations at the stations,” ZPC Managing Director Noah Gwariro said in an update on Q4 power generation.
Gwariro said during the period, the small thermals were mainly affected by the general low availability of the boiler plant, as well as unavailability of turbo-alternator 1(TA1) at Harare Power Station.
He said the TA1 rotor was dispatched from India on the 25th of July 2016, and after Installation and commissioning, the machine was declared commercially available on the 2nd of November 2016.
He added that Munyati Power Station was expected to ramp up its production to 50MW by April 2016 but this was hampered due to liquidity challenges which resulted in delays in the delivery of key components to achieving improved output.
“Low coal stock levels at Munyati and Bulawayo Power Stations also led to loss of production time thereby missing set targets,” he said.
ZPC has power projects at different levels valued at an estimated cost well over US$1 billion Gwariro said the Kariba South Extension project has made remarkable progress from 58 percent in the previous quarter to 66 percent towards completion in the fourth quarter.
He said considerable progress has also been made towards fulfilling the conditions for the Hwange expansion project with the loan agreement between the Government of Zimbabwe and Exim Bank of China having been ratified in Parliament on the 7th of December 2016, and the limestone supply agreement between Hwange Electricity Supply Company (HESCO), a special purpose vehicle for the Hwange expansion project, and PPC was signed on the 8th of December 2016.
“ZPC expects to reach financial closure for the Hwange expansion project by the end of March 2017,” he said.
Local works for the Deka project are 85 percent complete and the Exim Bank of India have appointed an Independent Consultant to assess the cost of the EPC works. Meanwhile, Prequalification Documents for the EPC works are still under review by Exim Bank of India.
During the period, pre-qualification of EPC contractors by Exim Bank of India (EBI) was completed for the Bulawayo repowering project and four (4) companies were shortlisted for issuance of RFP documents.
Gwariro said the engineering feasibility studies for Batoka are almost complete, and the draft final ESIA report was submitted and is under review.
On other hand, drafting of the power purchase agreement for the Gairezi 30MW hydro power project is in place, after having completed the environmental impact assessment report. FinX
CASH SHORTAGES|Zimbabwe Power Company misses output target
