The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), a subsidiary of ZESA Holdings, has started buying solar power from households.
So far, 117 households and businesses with solar power are selling their surplus to ZETDC under the power utility’s Net Metering programme.
Net Metering enables consumers who generate excess solar energy on their premises to feed the excess back into the ZETDC network via a grid-tied inverter.
Those with solar power, a grid-tied inverter and the smart meter can sell electricity into the grid in return for electricity tokens they use when they do not have sufficient renewable supply.
According to ZETDC, as of January 2023, 117 connections had been made out of the 175 successful applications that were received, with the remaining applications still being evaluated.
ZETDC said that the connected installed capacity stood at 4.9MW, while the total capacity for all the applications received is at 12.5MW.
Speaking to The Herald, ZESA stakeholder relations communications and welfare manager George Manyaya said:
The system starts with solar panels that convert energy from the sun into electricity, an inverter then converts the electricity produced by the solar panels from direct current alternating current for use in your home, school, or business.
Finally, the installed bi-directional meter measures the energy used and excess energy produced which is passed on to the grid
The customer gets their proportional electrical power units credited to their ZETDC account and not in monetary value.
Customers can pass on their surplus generated energy to ZETDC. This power is then used to offset electric energy provided by ZETDC to the customer during an applicable billing period.
This means that the electricity for those on net metering will be cheaper whenever they recharge or pay a post-paid bill.