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Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]

THE Zimbabwe Mining and Alloy Smelting Company (Zimasco) in collaboration with the Kwekwe City intend to establish a 100MW solar farm on a piece of land between Mbizo high density suburb and Sebakwe River.

The project would generate electricity for use at Zimasco’s smelting operations with excess power being fed into the national grid.

Following the closure of some furnaces last year due to soaring electricity bills and a downturn in international market prices, Zimasco in a public notice said it aims to enhance its energy independence by harnessing solar power.

“Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd (Zimasco), in collaboration with the Municipality of Kwekwe, intends to establish a 100MW solar farm on a 244-hectare piece of land between Mbizo high density suburb and Sebakwe River in Kwekwe,” reads part of the public notice.

The company said the project will be located on the whole land between the railway line on the west, tributary to Sebakwe River on the east, road to Mbizo Sewage Plant on the south and Sebakwe River on the north.

The project site had been reserved for energy development related to water and sewage treatment facilities.

“The project’s purpose is to generate electricity for use in Zimasco’s smelting operations, with excess power being fed into the national grid,” said the company.

Zimasco said it was committed to environmental management and operational efficiency, by establishing the solar plant.

In line with the Environmental Management Act, the company said it was in the process of conducting an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (Esia) for the project.

The Esia process will focus on the identification, analysis, assessment and evaluation of potential negative and positive environmental and social impacts that are incidental to the project, culminating in an Environmental and Social Management and Monitoring Plan (ESMMP) that takes into account inputs from stakeholder consultation, engagement and participation processes.

“As part of the Esia process, this Public Notice serves as part of the stakeholder notification of some of the potential project environmental and social impacts and invites stakeholder suggestions, so that wholesome impact mitigation measures are generated,” reads the notice. 

“The preliminary ground-truthing shows that there are some informal settlements within the proposed project area.”

Zimasco said through the Esia process, all the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and the respective Government departments will be engaged, to ensure that the potential impacts are adequately mitigated.

It said that a full census of the area has already been conducted and further engagements will be made with the PAPs and the relevant authorities on the ground.

Zimasco was forced to shut down some of its furnaces due to a decline in global market prices and high electricity bills and is currently running two upgraded furnaces that are more             power efficient and environmentally friendly.

“Current market dynamics where global ferrochrome markets have taken a downturn coupled with the recent increased cost of power, means that it makes sense for us to temporarily halt production from our older less efficient furnaces and take the opportunity to carry out essential maintenance on them while negotiations continue towards a more favourable power tariff,” Ms Namatai Mapfumo, the company’s chief operations officer, was quoted as saying recently.

She said the company will continue with the expansion project of constructing two modern fully closed 19.8MVA furnaces.