Zimbabwe was opening up its doors to investors for its energy sector, Minister of Energy and Power Development Elias Mudzuri said on Tuesday, adding that it was also considering offering potential tax holidays for those investors willing to participate in the development of large power projects in the country.

The Minister told delegates at the Southern African Energy Week conference, in Johannesburg, that it was hoping to attract investors to participate in the development of the Southern African country’s energy sector through public–private partnerships or any other joint-venture model, as well as participation from independent power producers (IPPs).

The Zimbabwean energy sector was facing serious challenges, which was having a negative impact on the country’s social, environmental and economic development.

The country produced about 1 100 MW of electricity on average, with a peak demand of about 2 100 MW.

It imported about 35% of its electricity requirements from its neighbours and could not expand this, as the Southern African region was struggling with an energy crisis.

This meant that it could import about 200 MW of electricity from its neighbours, leaving the country with a shortfall of about 800 MW.

Mudzuri said that the government had come up with short-term measures to try and mitigate this shortage, noting that this included the rehabilitation of a number of power stations and transmission and distribution systems.

It was also planning to expand its Hwange coal-fired power station by 600 MW and the Kariba hydropower station by about 300 MW.

However, there was huge further potential to expand its power generation capacity through hydropower projects, which could deliver about an additional 5 000 MW.

Other smaller hydropower projects that could be constructed near small rivers and dams could add more than 200 MW to the country’s generation capacity.

Mudzuri noted that the country was looking for IPPs to help develop or to set up these projects, saying that producers did not necessarily have to export the power to the national grid. IPPs would also be allowed to sell their power to other electricity users in the country.

Other options for expanding the power generation capacity of Zimbabwe included the country’s coal-bed methane reserves of about 1,1-trillion cubic feet, as well as its 11,8-billion metric tons of coal.

The country was also looking at renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, biomass and bagasse.

By Special correspondent