Rutendo Chirume
The Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) has approved funding for a solar project in the Chatsworth area of Gutu district Ward 32, EnviroPress can report.
This was communicated by IDBZ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thomas Zondo Sakala who indicated that the project, which was mooted seven years ago, would finally commence.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in 2018, and land provided to Gutu Rural District Council (GRDC) by the Ministry of Lands through a 25-year lease approved on October 06, 2023, was then secured.
The solar power plant will generate five Megawatts (5MW) of power for feeding into the national grid. The whole of Gutu district consumes an average of 3MW per day.
“Under the Framework Agreement, the IDBZ was to provide funding for the preparation and development of the project while GRDC was to avail leased land for the project. The land is currently zoned as resettlement area and owned by the State. GRDC applied for a 25-year lease from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development (MoLAWFRD). The lease application was approved on October 06 2023. In addition to land ownership through the Lease, the GRDC has already commenced land clearing, construction of access road and boundary security fencing,” Sakala wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle @zondoskl on August 23, 2024. (read Sakala’s full post here)
“For project preparation, the Bank, through the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, secured funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) to co-finance the Detailed Feasibility and ESIA studies for the project,” he said.
He stated that an open tender for this exercise was awarded to SOWITEC Kenya Limited in partnership with MAZEDECK Ventures (Pvt) Limited Zimbabwe.
Gutu Rural District Council CEO Alexander Mtembwa told EnviroPress that the project would help improve service delivery and generate new jobs.
“Of the 15 hectares, five hectares have already been cleared; with complete construction of the roads which have also opened up job opportunities for people.
“We are excited about this because it is an income generating project which will help council to reduce energy bills and open new revenue streams,” said Mtembwa.
Initially, a German clean energy firm known as HIVE Energy Ltd was to fund the project to the tune of US$26 million to generate 20MW of electricity.
GRDC and HIVE Energy Ltd, it was announced, would form Gutu Power Company (GPC) and sell their electricity to ZESA, but the German company withdrew in 2020 after the world got into the Covid-19 induced lockdown which severely curtailed global travel and business.
The proposed project was then drastically scaled down to 5MW after assessments proved that ZESA would not have capacity to safely channel the 20 megawatts of electricity into the national grid using the power infrastructure available in the area.
