Yesterday, PPC Zimbabwe broke ground on two solar PV plants in Bulawayo and Gwanda in southwestern Zimbabwe. The facilities will have a combined generation capacity of 30 MWac and were awarded to a consortium of the African Transmission Corporation (ATC) and Sinohydro Corporation following a competitive tender.
The consortium’s project company, CentraWest, is mandated to develop, finance, construct, maintain, operate, and own the project. Construction includes the associated transmission integration infrastructure to supply PPC’s cement manufacturing operations in Coleen Bawn and Bulawayo.
“To ensure reliable and quality supply of electricity to PPC Zimbabwe, a 9MW/18MWh battery energy storage system will be installed at the Gwanda site. This is one of the largest grid scale electricity storage systems to be built in Africa,” ATC Managing Director Victor Utedzi said.
Construction works will generate 500 local jobs and are expected to be completed at the end of this year.
ATC is steadily establishing its leadership within Zimbabwe’s solar industry. In 2019, it already developed the 2 MW Centragrid solar PV plant at Nyabira, which it is now expanding to 25 MW. Details on the project are available within the Hawilti+ research terminal.