Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Partson Mbiriri assured Zimbabweans that electricity will be available in Zimbabwe during the festive season. Mbiriri was speaking during a Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) workshop that took place in Harare.
The Permanent Secretary said that plans were already on the ground to ensure that Zimbabweans enjoy the holiday with electricity.
“I want to assure you that you shall be lubricated during the festive season. There are already plans that are on the ground…” said Mbiriri.
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has in the past been forced to carry out load shedding as power shortages loom in the country.
Electricity has been a problem in Zimbabwe as the industrialists blamed power cuts for low production outputs.Civic society organisations pointed to the lack of electricity for indoor pollution that is causing respiratory problems as well as death among the Zimbabwean women and children. Lack of electricity has also been pointed as the major cause of deforestation in the rural areas. Access to electricity has reached 79 percent of the urban population whilst rural electrification is below 19 in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, which is importing over 600 megawatts of electricity from its neighbors has the potential of producing 2 000 megawatts. The country’s renewable energy resources, if well harnessed, can supply 10,000-gigawatt hours of energy per year.Over 60 percent of the Zimbabweans are using firewood as the main source of energy. Besides thermal and hydroelectricity, Zimbabwe has the potential to produce electricity from solar energy and also wind.
The government has been encouraging the citizens to use other sources of energy like solar and biogas as an alternative to electricity.In June Mbiriri blamed Zimbabwe’s failure to produce the required energy on increasing demands and unprecedented facility.
