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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
ENERGY and Power Development Minister Dr Samuel Undenge yesterday challenged local authorities to partner Government in power generation using renewable sources to feed into the national grid and avert load shedding.

Speaking at the ongoing Local Government Investment Conference (Logic) here, Dr Undenge said the country was faced with possible load shedding owing to low power generation capacity.

He said there were cheaper non-renewable energy sources that urban local authorities can harness such as solar, wind, biogas and waste material.

“I am here to forge some partnerships with local authorities to produce power. Most local authorities are closer to rivers while some have farms that can be used for solar and waste management. Even if you produce 1MW that’s a lot of electricity as it can light up several households and as such I urge local authorities to partner us and participate in energy production,” said Dr Undenge.

He said the country’s current power generation was inadequate to meet demand and hence the Government was complementing local supply with imports from Eskom in South Africa and Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.

Dr Undenge said the situation was worsened by low water levels in Kariba Dam, which normally should produce 750MW but now only produces about 250MW due to drought.

“That’s a significant drop,” said Dr Undenge.

He said private players were also welcome to invest in power generation because of the National Energy Policy of 2012 while a National Integrated Energy Plan is being developed to come up with long term energy plans.

“We are in a liberalised energy environment where you can produce power and sell to Zesa or consume on your own as well.

“We are also exploring other renewable energy sources as methane and waste material and local authorities should come in.

“If we can convert our waste we can end up with cleaner environments as well. Other cities are now using waste to produce power and sustaining their revenue sources,” added Dr Undenge.

He said the country was endowed with coal, methane gas, biomass, solar and wind, which can be used effectively to produce alternative energy.

The Energy Minister said the Government had already adopted a solar geyser system whereby all houses being built must be installed with solar geysers other than electricity ones as that will serve 40 percent of power consumed by a household.

Zesa is owed $1 billion, a quarter of it by local authorities while it also owes its service providers an estimated similar amount.

Dr Undenge said Zesa is desperately in need of revenue as Eskom was demanding cash upfront for electricity.

“Zesa wants that money because if we run out of revenue that means we can’t buy electricity and we may resort to load shedding,” he said.

Dr Undenge said his Ministry was in talks with the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on a possible centralised billing for both electricity and water.

@ncubeleon