Zimbabwe

The government of Zimbabwe has approved a $45 million fund for renewable energy projects. The announcement coincides with the licensing of 10 independent power producers to generate 271 MW of renewable energy, including 116 MW of solar.

More than 200 entries from across 39 countries made up the field for the pv magazine Awards 2023 and there was genuine innovation on display in all categories. Significant demands have been placed on the solar and energy storage industries in 2023, but that hasn’t stopped the sector from making great leaps in performance. The winners of the pv magazine Awards 2023 serve as shining examples of what can be achieved through a continuous improvement philosophy.

As the global North ponders e-mobility dilemmas such as how to source sufficient materials to meet electric car demand, fresh evidence has emerged of how solar can decarbonize transport and farming in Africa.

HDF and ZETDC have signed Zimbabwe’s first utility-scale green hydrogen power plant, with 178 GWh of expected annual electricity production. Rystad Energy, meanwhile, says Africa’s total electrolyzer pipeline has hit 114 GW.

The Zimbabwean government has agreed to guarantee viable power tariffs to 27 solar projects by independent power producers (IPPs). Developers are set to build 997.9 MW of capacity, with a total investment of around $1 billion.

Cape Town-based solar crowdfunding platform The Sun Exchange in April announced completion of its largest funding call, for US$1.4 million to finance what it described as a 510kW solar-plus-storage facility for Zimbawean food company Nhimbe Fresh. With the first part of a planned three-phase “going solar” transformation of the business complete, pv magazine spoke to The Sun Exchange founder and CEO Abraham Cambridge, and to Nhimbe Fresh chairman Edwin Masimba Moyo.

Platinum miner Zimplats will spend $200 million on 185 MW of solar plants to power operations to help seal approval for its capital spending plans by the Zimbabwean government and to make up for deficiencies in local electricity supply.

Sun Exchange is seeking to deploy 1 GW of solar power projects in Africa the next five years as it further expands its user base. Sun Exchange CEO Abraham Cambridge spoke to pv magazine about how the company will use its newly acquired funds.

With pressure mounting on the world’s governments to turn their back on the fossil fuel, China and peers in South East Asia, Europe and South Asia could help deliver a coal-free future at the COP26 climate summit planned in Glasgow in November.

Johannesburg-based clean power business Blockpower is working on installing a back-up power supply across three agricultural estates in Zimbabwe.