5MW Great Zimbabwe Hydropower Project Officially Commissioned
The 5MW Great Zimbabwe Hydropower Project has been officially commissioned. Located at the Mutirikwi Dam wall, the mini-hydro project was financed through a combination of local pension funds and foreign capital.
Samuel Matsekete, CEO of Old Mutual Zimbabwe, which invested in the project via Old Mutual Life Assurance said the successful completion of the Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Plant is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships in driving economic development.
Earlier this year, Old Mutual launched a US$100 million private equity fund targeting renewable energy investments.
As reported by newZWire, other investors are the Public Service Pension Fund, ZB Financial Holdings, Frontier Energy, MOL Power and the Danish Investment Fund.
Local contractors on the project included JR Goddard and Masimba Holdings.
In March 2024, the government granted tariff guarantees to ten independent power producers, with a combined potential of 271MW, hoping to speed up the implementation of green energy projects.
The producers – which included Great Zimbabwe Hydro – were given a tariff of US 9 cents a kilowatt hour.
Memory Mashingaidze, co-founder and Executive Director of Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power and MOL Power said:
I am delighted to see the Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Project commissioned and begin contributing to Zimbabwe’s electricity generation.
We take this moment to recognise and celebrate a remarkable achievement and look forward with optimism as we hand the baton from the construction to the operations team.
It is the debut project in Zimbabwe for Frontier Energy, which is partly backed by British International Investment, the UK’s development finance arm. Kim Gredsted, one of the founding partners of Frontier Energy, said:
The Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Project is Frontier Energy’s first project in Zimbabwe. We hope and expect to participate in the creation of many more renewable energy projects in this beautiful country and in this way participate in the expansion of Zimbabwe’s power generation capacity.
On Sunday, ZESA announced it would cut off power to parts of Masvingo Province to allow the commissioning of the plant.
The plant features two 2.7 MW Francis turbines, providing a total power output of 5.4 MW.
More: Pindula News
