Zimbabwe power utility ZESA is not backtracking on a US$40 million power deal to supply Namibia’s Nampower 150 MW of electricity daily, as reports suggested that Harare wanted th e deal that was sealed in 2007 re-negotiated.
Nampower entered into an agreement with Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Z ESA) to pump US$40 million into refurbishing four units at the coal-fired Hwange Power Station (HPS) and import 150 MW from Z imbabwe daily for the next five years.
Zimbabweâ?s Minister of Energy Elias Mudzuri this week said he wanted some aspe cts of the deal re-negotiated.
Mudzuri said that the deal with Nampower should be anchored on HPS only, raising eyebrows on the fate of Namibiaâ?s 150 MW should the ailing power station go off line.
â?Minister Mudzuri wants the deal renegotiated so that only power generated at Hwange Thermal Station is exported to Namibia,â? a report in the state controlled Herald said.
Nampower management however said it did not receive formal communication from ZE SA, adding that it was business as usual.
ZESA Chief Executive Officer Ben Rafemoyo said Friday that the utility would con tinue to honour its contract with Nampower, adding that exports to Namibia had not been cut.
Rafemoyo clarified that ZESA would only fail to export power to Namibia in a â~ crisis situation such as when all our local generation is incapacitated.â?
â?It is a very unlikely scenario. Even if Hwange is down, we would be able to s upply Namibia with power from other local generation,â? Rafemoyo said in an interview.
Zimbabwe, recovering from a decade long economic downturn, is suffering from chr onic electricity blackouts, resulting from obsolete equipment at its power stations and chronic coal shortages.
Rafemoyo said Mudzuri’s statement only applies to a crisis scenario when â~we a re not generating and we have to import ourselves.â?
â?Should that happen, we would sit down with Nampower and explain the situation ,â? Rafemoyo said.
