By Shongedzai Mugwagwa

Government through the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has granted an energy generation licence to a Mutoko based private company, Nyangani Renewable Energy (NRE) trading as Riverside Power Station private limited.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the NRE phase 2 solar mini-grid in Mutoko in June 2018. The NRE has the capacity of producing 2.5 MW of electricity already being fed into the national grid.

Riverside Power Station has been licensed under the Electricity Act to construct, own and operate a solar power plant at Mutsvaire Village in Mutoko as an independent power producer. 

In a notice published yesterday, ZERA said; “The generation licence is hereby granted to Riverside Power Station Private limited  (hereinafter referred to the licence) in terms of section 42 of the Electricity Act to construct, own, operate and maintain the 7.5MW  Riverside Power Station Phase II for the purposes of generation and supply of electricity.”

The private power supply is listed under the PGI Group, a UK based group that invests in agri-business and renewable energy in Southern Africa has commissioned many energy plants in Eastern highlands power plants, namely Duru, Nyamhingura and the first phase of Pungwe.

The Mutoko solar plant will be operating at 4700MW per hour yearly which can sustain more than 2 million homes on the national grid.