Zimbabwe micro-grids

Harare, Zimbabwe

From CleanTechnica

For the last couple of decades, Zimbabweans have been subjected to electricity rationing due to several reasons, such as frequent droughts affecting hydropower generation and regular breakdowns at the country’s aging coal power plants. This means most businesses operating in the commercial and industrial sector as well as in the mining and agricultural sectors generally have diesel back-up generators (DGs).

As the price of solar panels dropped significantly over the last decade, more firms in these sectors started to install solar PV onsite to complement the grid. Most of these installations are simple grid-tied solutions, meaning that they would automatically switch off when there is a grid power outage. To allow the safe operation of onsite solar in island mode during a power cut, some firms have started integrating their PV plants with their existing or new diesel back-up generators. In this mode, the PV works with the DGs and helps reduce the diesel usage.

Technological advancements in the battery storage sector and the subsequent price reductions have now made the business case for incorporating battery storage more appealing. We are starting to see some firms adopting battery storage. Going forward, this means that we will start to see more of these grid connected microgrids that have solar PV, battery storage, and diesel back-up generators. To unlock the full potential of these microgrids, looking at them independently behind the meter initially, and then in the next phase, as aggregated distributed energy resources acting as virtual power plants, smart energy management systems backed by AI powered forecasts, monitoring, analytics and control, will help underpin the value proposition of these grid-edge solutions.

NeedEnergy, an energy-tech startup that leverages data, innovation, and modern technology relevant to the provision of sustainable and clean energy solutions, wants to lead the drive to get businesses in Zimbabwe to adopt technologies and platforms that will enable Zimbabwe to get closer to the grid edge.

After successfully completing a number of trials with several firms in Zimbabwe over the past 2 years, NeedEnergy, together with Inno-Tech, a local solar engineering, construction, and procurement company (EPC) led by Founder Richard Werrett, have this week launched their first commercial project. They have deployed a 30 kW PV plant coupled with 60 kWh LFP battery storage [given solar capacity factors, that's about 4 hours of storage]in a grid-tied hybrid microgrid operating at the edge of the grid in a first for Zimbabwe. A 60 KVA diesel generator is also part of the microgrid. The installation is at a new small shopping center in the upmarket Borrowdale area, in Harare.

The solar microgrid is currently meeting 100% of the load demand and there are intentions to further scale the microgrid to a 60 kW/120 kWh system as more tenants take up shop space at the new small shopping center. An English-style pub is also due to open at the shopping center soon. The owner of the shopping center said he wanted to incorporate solar, battery storage, and cutting edge energy management systems from the get-go as an example for other developers to follow. He has even installed high temperature heat pumps for several tenants, including the hair salon that uses a lot of hot water.

Zimbabwe is one of the few places in the region that allows and promotes net metering. The new shopping center is looking to join in on the net metering and unlock more value from the microgrid. They have applied for this and are in the queue. With several sites in the area looking to install similar microgrids as well as advanced microgrid management systems, NeedEnergy understands that it may as well be the first to take advantage of this and is ready to deploy the first virtual power plant in Zimbabwe in this neighborhood. It will be one of the few VPPs in the region as it brings these capabilities to the microgrids through its platform.

Load shedding is happening throughout Southern Africa, but is also a serious problem in other countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan.   Allowing private businesses and farms to use net metering to add their surplus electricity to the grid is an innovative way to reduce blackouts.  Diesel-powered backup is normally much more expensive than grid electricity, and enterprises only use it as a last resort.  They won't be feeding diesel-generated power into the grid. But they will feed surplus electricity from solar panels into the grid.  Each micro-grid will produce more electricity than it needs, and the surplus will be available for others.   Each set of rooftop solar panels produces only relatively small quantities of electricity, but thousands add up:  in South Australia, for example, rooftop solar provides nearly 20% of total electricity demand.  

Zambia increases load shedding to 12 hours a day

Kariba dam, on the Zambesi river, the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe

From CleanTechnica

The water levels in Kariba Dam are dangerously low, mainly due to climate change-induced irregular rainfall patterns. The dam is shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam hosts hydropower generation plants for both countries. The installed generation capacity on the Zimbabwe side is 1,050 MW. On the Zambian side, the installed generation capacity is 1080 MW.

In December of last year, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), the body that manages and regulates water usage at the Kariba Dam, announced that the water levels in the dam were now dangerously low. The ZRA issued a statement saying it had directed the two power companies, ZESCO in Zambia and ZPC in Zimbabwe, to reduce generation at Kariba. ZESCO Limited on the Zambian side was asked to reduce generation at the Kariba North Bank Power Station to 800 MW maximum. ZRA directed Zimbabwe Power Company (Link) reduce power generation to a maximum of 300 MW.

ZPC had used more of its water allocation for the year at Kariba compared to ZECSO as Zimbabwe’s aging coal power plants are struggling and therefore Kariba dam had to do most of the heavy lifting. The old units at Zimbabwe’s main coal power plant, Hwange, have an installed capacity of 920 MW, but generally hover around 300 MW. Zimbabwe also has small thermal power stations in Harare, Bulawayo, and Munyati that each have an installed capacity of close to 100 MW, but mostly oscillate between 0 MW and 10 MW. Therefore, the power utility had no option but to really make Kariba do most of the work. Meanwhile in Zambia, they recently commissioned new generation capacity at the new Kafue Gorge Lower (KGL) hydro plant. The addition of the 750 MW Kafue Gorge Lower (KGL) hydro project, which was constructed at a cost of approx.$2.3 billion, meant that until recently, Zambia had excess generation capacity of 1,156.8 MW. This meant that they could manage the water usage at Kariba more effectively.

But the situation has only gotten worse since early December and the water levels in Kariba are now even lower. Therefore, today, ZESCO Limited announced that it has to adjust the hours of load-shedding to twelve (12) hours daily with immediate effect until further notice. This is up from the 6 hours of load-shedding per day announced in December. ZESCO says “The Corporation’s ability to meet power demand remains constrained by the drastic reduction in available water in the Kariba reservoir for electricity generation at Kariba North Bank Power Station. At present, the power station’s generating capacity has been reduced from its installed 1080MW to below 400MW. Furthermore, the 150MW generator outage at Maamba Collieries Limited Power Plant for routine annual maintenance from 4 January until 20 January 2023 has exacerbated the situation.”

This is the second time in just a few years that Zambia has had to introduce 12 hour daily load-shedding cycles. Zimbabwe is in the same boat (actually even worse) as the power company there has had to implement 18 to 20 hour load-shedding in 2019 and again from late last year up till now. Further south, South Africa has also been implementing load-shedding for several hours a day. This is due to frequent breakdowns at its aging coal power plants. The Southern African region is facing a serious electricity crisis and needs to start working on some urgent solutions.

[Personal note: I grew up in Zambia, which was then called Northern Rhodesia.  I was at school in the years when the Kariba dam was built and started filling.  As the dam filled, the earth underneath it subsided, and we'd get mini earthquakes, which always startled us.   The rising waters created islands, and to stop wildlife drowning, rescue missions were carried out.  I hope Zambia can overcome its many difficulties and resume growth--in the 1950s, it was one of the fastest  growing economies in the world, because of copper exports.]

An EV in Zimbabwe

From CleanTechnica




Frank Sinatra, in his iconic song New York, New York, said “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere, it’s up to you, New York, New York.” In October 2009, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys released their smash hit “Empire State of mind” where Jay-Z says he feels like the new Sinatra because “Since I made it here (New York), I can make it anywhere.”

I have been feeling the same way when it comes to EV ownership in Zimbabwe. There is a popular joke in Zimbabwe that living in Zimbabwe is such an extreme sport that it is a skill in a league of its own that one’s CV should just read “Lived in Zimbabwe” on the experience section. That’s because Zimbabwe has been famous for some unbelievable stuff over the past couple of decades, such as world record inflation at times leading to the infamous One Hundred Trillion Dollar Zimbabwe Dollar note around late 2008/early 2009. Yes, they did actually print a One Hundred Trillion Dollar note this century. There are no more trillion dollar notes in Zimbabwe, but inflation is still very high — triple digit high!

These regular cycles of runaway inflation and foreign currency shortages lead to periodic petrol and diesel shortages. They also lead to periods of insane electricity rationing. That’s because when there is a drought (like now), the country’s largest generation station, the 1,050 MW Kariba hydropower plant, has to throttle generation. Recently, Kariba has had to throttle generation to a maximum of 300 MW due to low water levels. Then there is the aging coal power plants that break down quite often, leaving a large deficit, hence the utility company has to implement load-shedding. There is the Southern African Power Pool, where Zimbabwe gets some imports from its neighbors, but that also presents some problems.

1. Some of the member states in the region such as South Africa are also having their own issues and are implementing heavy load-shedding cycles. 2. Zimbabwe’s foreign currency drama and Zimbabwe dollar currency chaos mean that they can’t always import enough from neighbors to help cover some of the deficit. This meant 18-hour daily load-shedding cycles were implemented in 2019, and now in 2022, Zimbabweans are experiencing 20-hour daily load-shedding cycles. Most Zimbabweans are only getting electricity from midnight to 4 am. I am one of them and I drive my electric car every day!

Our family driving pattern has not changed much since before the load-shedding started. We still do the school runs, and the ballet and swimming runs. We live in a rented apartment so we can’t really install solar where we stay. So, we just wait for the electricity to come back after 11pm and then the car will charge while we sleep. Sometimes the utility company switches off the power around 4 am, sometimes 5 am, sometime 6 am. Even when the power goes at 4 am, that 4 hours or so is enough to get our 24 kWh Nissan Leaf to more than 80% or to 100%. Around the world, most people when asked if they want to go full EV will be quick to ask about range and charging infrastructure issues. If I can drive an electric car in Zimbabwe, you can drive one anywhere!

How Solar Power is Reducing Maternal Mortality in Zimbabwe

 From IRENA

A renewable energy innovation has improved obstetric care to last-mile communities across Zimbabwe, successfully supporting over 180,000 deliveries per year since its introduction.

“Night-time deliveries and emergencies were no longer fraught with candle-lit uncertainty.”

Tendai Matimbe starts his day at 7:30 am every morning, but as Nurse-in-Charge at the Kamabarami Health Clinic, Zimbabwe, he is never sure when it will end. Tendai’s patients include pregnant mothers, children, and HIV positive people in need of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). While he and his colleagues conduct consultations in the morning and outpatient visits until 4 pm, they are on standby 24/7 in case there is an emergency, or someone goes into labour.

Providing health services at night can be tricky. The facility lacks electricity and clinicians struggle in near darkness to provide lifesaving care to patients. According to Tendai: “At night, we faced many challenges because we relied on candles to conduct medical services. It was scary, especially during complications.”

Without a source of light, health workers faced issues such as difficulty in administering Nevirapine (a medication to reduce the likelihood of maternal HIV transmission) to newborn babies. Healthcare workers across the sub-Saharan Africa region face similar challenges every day. Medical facilities in Zimbabwe feature among the 70 per cent of facilities across the region without reliable access to electricity, according to a joint report by IRENA and other SDG 7 custodian organisations.

As a result, health workers like Tendai and his colleagues found themselves forced to ask pregnant women from the poor communities to bring extra money to buy enough candles to last through the night – something many could ill afford.

To combat this, We Care Solar, a non-profit organisation, started introducing the Solar Suitcase to health centres in Zimbabwe in 2015. It is an easy-to-use solar electric system that provides last-mile health facilities with highly efficient medical lighting and power for mobile communication and small medical devices.

While the Suitcase was designed to support timely and efficient emergency obstetric care, it can be used in a range of humanitarian settings. The water-and-dust tight yellow case becomes a cabinet that mounts to the wall and is connected to the solar panels secured on the roof. The system includes rechargeable LED lights, USB ports, a fetal doppler, and an infrared thermometer.

The Kamabarami Clinic received the suitcase in 2019. Overnight, Tendai and his team found their work transformed. The practical and portable source of clean, steady electricity ensured that night-time deliveries and emergencies were no longer fraught with candle-lit uncertainty. Tendai says: “Attending to patients has become easier now, even at night. With the fetal doppler, we can listen to the fetal heart rate easily. With the lights, we can detect fetal abnormalities on the baby, especially when there is birth asphyxia.”

It is also helping to prevent maternal deaths. “One day a pregnant mother came while in labour,” Tendai recalls. “Out of fear about the costs of transport and the money for a caesarean section she lied, telling me that she’d had a normal birth from the previous pregnancy. But with the new, adequate lighting, l noticed that she had a big scar on her lower abdomen which l suspected to be from a prior caesarean section.”

Tendai was able to use the fetal doppler to listen to the baby’s heart rate, allowing him to detect the presence of any abnormalities. The baby’s heart rate was too slow. “I transferred the patient to the hospital at once, where the doctor informed me that her condition would only allow her to deliver by caesarean procedure. The doctor said that if l had not identified the abnormality and immediately transferred the patient, there were chances that we could have lost both the mother and the baby. Thanks to the new source of light, l was able to detect the physical abnormality and the fetal bradycardia.”

The clinic has seen an increase in productivity and lower maternal mortality rates since the introduction of solar power. The Solar Suitcases are now operational across 759 health centres in Zimbabwe, supporting more than 180,000 deliveries each year.

While this progress is encouraging, much more can be done. At present, Zimbabwe is tapping only a fraction of its full solar potential, estimated to be more than four gigawatts. In 2020, the country installed just 6 MW of new solar energy and now has a total installed capacity of 17 MW.

Despite this, renewable-based systems used to power rural health clinics are already having a transformative impact on the quality of life of rural communities, like the case of Tendai and the Kamabarami Health Clinic. Tendai feels that all clinics should enjoy the benefits of renewable energy solutions like solar power. “This is the best thing that has happened to our clinic. From the first day we used solar power to improve our working condition, we have not had any maternal death. It’s now easier to attend to our patients because we can see what we are doing and where we are going. We are no longer lost in the dark,” he said.

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.