Solar takes off in Zimbabwe

Harare, Zimbabwe

Most of Africa, which is currently underdeveloped partly because it hasn't extensive electric grids, nevertheless has superb solar resources.  Solar is now cheaper than any other generation source across the continent.  What's stopped the rollout of solar in the past has been a combination of ignorance and finance.  Most people simply didn't know that solar is the cheapest source of electricity.   But even if they did, all of solar's costs are upfront.  Poor countries struggle to find the capital to invest in solar. 

From PV Magazine:

The World Bank is helping the Zimbabwean government introduce a competitive program for procuring large scale PV power projects under the recently completed National Renewable Energy Policy.

The multilateral lender has opened a tender on the AfricanPower Platform to seek experts to advise the government on a procurement program, with an emphasis on generation asset planning. “The scope of work includes: grid flexibility analysis; demand and generation forecasts; committed generation; and domestic resources assessment,” the document states.

Zimbabwean energy analyst Masthela Koko said integrated electricity planning has always been lacking in his country. “With this development, government is sending a clear signal that it takes electricity security seriously and this security of electricity supply must come at a cost and pace that the people of Zimbabwe can afford,” Koko told pv magazine. “The involvement of [the] World Bank is extremely positive. I see this development as the beginning of big solar projects in Zimbabwe.”

The consultant said 39 solar power projects with a total generation capacity of 1,050 MW have secured government approval in Zimbabwe.

“To date, [the] Zimbabwe energy regulator has cancelled seven licences of the independent power producers who failed to kick-start their projects as agreed,” said Koko, citing a government plan to review licensed projects that was announced in July. The government at the time stated: “Everything has to be very legal. Licensees must be given the right to explain themselves around the issue of non-performance.” However, it added: “We cannot hang onto people that keep licenses for speculative purposes.”

The Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe in September issued a request for proposal seeking partners for the construction of seven solar parks with a total generation capacity of 235 MW plus two mini-hydro power plants. That came after minister of energy and power development Fortune Chasi had announced plans in July to move forward a 100 MW tendered PV project whose realization has been delayed for years.

The nation is in desperate need of power generation capacity and solar offers a cheap, scalable solution. Zimbabwe had only 11 MW of installed solar capacity at the end of December 2018, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.