07 August 2013, Harare – The Zimbabwe Power Company requires close to a US$100 million to set up a 30 Megawatts, MW, mini-hydro power plant at Gairezi in Nyanga, a move expected to improve electricity generation in a country currently dogged by continuous power shortages.
ZPC, a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings in charge of generating electricity, was granted a licence for the project last year and feasibility studies for the project had been concluded.
“Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) proposes to develop the Gairezi Mini Hydro Power Project on Gairezi River. The project is situated about 275km Northeast of Harare and 120km from Mutare, ZPC announced in a notice last week.
The project was expected to take between 25 and 35 months to complete and the engineering phase which involves generation of specifications, tendering for engineering, procurement and construction, EPC, contractor and EIA is already progress.
“Access is by road either from Harare or Mutare. The project envisages harnessing the hydro-power potential of the river by construction of a diversified dam across Gairezi to divert the design flows to a power house through a Head race tunnel,” said ZPC.
Consistent with the Environmental Management Act, ZPC is conducting an Environment Impact Assessment, EIA, for the project.
“Stakeholder’s consultation is a key activity of the EIA process. ZPC has appointed Ascon Africa Environmental Consultants to conduct the EIA,” said ZPC.
The country is experiencing huge power deficits which have impacted negatively on industrial performance and consequently the economy, with the country generating an average of 1,200MW out of a requirement of 2,200MW.
ZPC said it was also considering re-activating the Harare, Bulawayo and Munyati thermal power plants.
The company said the project involved replacing the current boiler plants with new Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology.
It said this would increase the generating capacities of the three power stations to 340MW from the existing installed capacity of 310MW.
– New Zimbabwe
