Mitchell Dzoro
ZESA Holdings Chairman Sydney Gata has said that the company is set to install a substantial 1.8 GWh battery energy storage system in a bid to tackle power shortages in the country.
ZESA had been experiencing a technical fault at Hwange Power Station Unit 8, which has since been solved and is waiting for synchronization.
This system is intended to help mitigate load-shedding and power outages that have been experienced in the country.
“The project is already at the procurement level, and the energy to charge the batteries will be supplied or procured off-peak.
“This is one of the immediate solutions the company is going to implement to reduce power cuts across the country,” said Gata.
The region’s power outages have been linked mostly to two sources. First, there have been hydrological concerns with the Kariba hydroelectric project, which is a major source of power generation, and a technical problem occurred at the Hwange thermal power station, worsening supply issues.
However, ZESA has announced that the technical issue at Hwange has been fixed, and the impacted generating unit is likely to be operational again which could help reduce some of the electrical supply issues.
The repowering of Hwange Units 1 to 6 is expected to increase current output from 485MW to 840MW, and an agreement with Indian business Jindal has been reached to invest in four more units with a capacity of 1,200MW.