ZIMBABWE Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is using obsolete equipment which has outlived its lifespan by over 30 years due to lack of funding, a company official has said.
BY FIDELITY MHLANGA
ZETDC network development manager, Edson Manyewe told the Korea Zimbabwe Energy investment seminar last week that the company was using old transmission transformers, putting power transmission capability at risk.
“We also have cases of vandalism of infrastructure ageing equipment, limited maintenance and refurbishment challenges due to lack of funds, as a classical example a transmission transformer its guaranteed life is about 25 to 30 years, but right now in our system, we have transformers with life ranging between 50 to 60 years. This is all because we don’t have the funds to replace such transformers. What it means is it’s a risk, it can fail any time because they have done their part,” he told delegates comprising mostly Korean business delegation.
The delegation is in the country to scout for possible investment opportunities mainly in energy, mining and information and communications technology. This comes as trade volumes between Zimbabwe and Korea has been nosediving from a peak of $39,1 million in 2013 to $32,09 million in 2014 before plunging further to $27,62 million in 2015 and $21,02 million last year.
Apart from the ageing equipment, Manyewe said ZETDC was hampered by lack of network reinforcement and rehabilitation projects, vandalism of infrastructure, limited maintenance and refurbishment challenges due to lack of funding, power quality challenges and revenue collection challenges.
Manyewe said the construction of electricity inter-connectors was on the cards, which allows the transfer of electricity across borders linking South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
“We are proposing to build a second interconnector linking South Africa and Zimbabwe. This is going to be done through a project called MOZISA the acronym standing for Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa that’s the line from South Africa to Njelele, from Njelele it will connect to Zimbabwe via Triangle up to Orange Groove then it goes to a substation called Chobe in Mozambique,” he said.
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Zimbabwe is a member of the Southern Africa Power Pool.
Manyewe said transmission network projects which need upgrade are Alaska — Sherwood 400kV line and line bay to be done at a cost of $63,4 million.
Other projects are the upgrade of Orange Grove — Triangle 400kV line, transformers and associated bays as well as the Orange Grove, Triangle and Tokwe substations which need $134 million.
In addition to the above, another project in the pipeline is the construction of Bindura — Mutorashanga 400kV line associated bays to cost $32,8 million.
Moreso, other sub transmission network projects lines and substations projects which require rehabilitation are Tokwe — Masvingo 40km x 132kV line + 132/33kV;( $15 million), Haven — Gokwe 100km x 132kV line ($23 million) and Monachrome — Chegutu 132kV ($26 million).
Substation upgrade, and distribution network upgrade projects also require $75 million and $120 million respectively.