Staff reporter

Plans to repower Bulawayo Thermal Power Plant are on cards following the signing of contract between Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL) of India.

A contact who works at ZPC Bulawayo said, “The plans to repower ZPC Bulawayo Thermal Power plant are now on course. Earlier this month ZPC and Bharat Heavy Electrical signed a contract for the repowering of the Bulawayo Thermal Power Plant. The US$120 million project is expected to commence soon.”

According to the contact, ZPC is expected to inject US$10 million deposit for the project and the money will be used for consultancy, coal plant components for ZPC and procurement of other components that are needed in the repowering project. He said the project will commence in the last quarter of 2022.  

The contact further revealed that the US$120 million will not be enough to cover all the projects components, therefore ZPC will raise additional funding to finance other linked projects such as the setting up of a pipeline to draw water from Khami dam to Bulawayo, and also to attend to the feeders which transmit electricity from the plant to various distribution sites.

He said the revamped power station which used to generate about 18 MW, will now be producing 90MW of power which is enough to supply half of Bulawayo power requirements.

Meanwhile, the contact said the ownership wrangle which previously affected the progress of the project was now over. He said the Thermal Power Plant was once owned by the Bulawayo City Council, but ownership was later transferred to ZPC through the Act of Parliament.

Economic analysts have commended this development indicating that the signing of the contract will boost the supply of power in the country and further said that the investment will compliment other efforts that include the refurbishment of Hwange Unit 7 and 8 where 300MW is expected from each unit, and this will ensure the stability of the grid.