A purpose-built development company is aiming to raise US $250 million to get the first phase of a floating solar power station on Lake Kariba under way.

Zimbabwe’s Intensive Energy User Group (IEUG) will own 52% of the Kariba Floating Solar Power Station Development Company, with the Zimbabwe Sovereign Wealth Fund holding 10% and private investors invited to take up the remainder.

The first phase of the project will see 250 MW being fed into the national power grid and sold under a 25-year power purchase agreement to the IEUG (which includes miners), and other qualifying users, such as the Southern African Power Pool.

It is envisaged that the solar project on Kariba, situated between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and the world’s largest artificial lake by volume, will have the potential eventually to produce 1 GW from 1.8 million PV panels installed on 146 modular units, according to Moneyweb.

‘We can save our mining companies from power cuts,’ says Caleb Dengu, a non-executive director at the IEUG.

11 July 2023
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