Zesa limits Dema power to 100MW

• Published date: 12 August 2016
• Publication title: The Chronicle

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company will not purchase more electricity from the Dema diesel power plant beyond 100 megawatts to minimise the impact of the tariff on the cost of the energy mix.

The tariff for the Dema plant is blended with cost of power from other local power plants and price of imported power to get an average price. The project is being spearheaded by local firm Sakunda Holdings.

ZETDC chief executive Engineer Julian Chinembiri said the company signed a power purchase agreement for the supply of 100 megawatts, as they do not have financial capacity to absorb the full output of 200MW from the Dema plant.

The project is an initiative to ameliorate acute power shortage in the short-term. Zimbabwe is expected to generate surplus power by 2018, when new projects currently underway start feeding the grid.

Eng Chinembiri said the other output from the diesel powered power plant can be sold to other consumers in the region.

'We are getting 100MW (from Dema), as per the power purchase agreement. We have no plans to purchase more electricity from the plant as we will not be able to afford it,' Eng Chinembiri said in an interview.

ZETDC, the transmission and distribution unit of power utility, Zesa Holdings, is buying power from the Dema diesel power plant at 15,45/KWh.

Its purchasing power has been further constrained by the refusal by energy regulator...