The Colleen Bawn Solar Power Station is a

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

plant under development in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The project is owned by Pretoria Portland Cement Limited, who own a cement factory in

Colleen Bawn Colleen Bawn is a town in Zimbabwe. Location Colleen Bawn is located in Gwanda District, in Matabeleland South Province, in southwest Zimbabwe. It is approximately , by road, east of Gwanda, the provincial and district headquarters. This is ...

and plan to consume 16 megawatts of the electricity generated and sell the rest to the Zimbabwe national grid.

Location

The power station is located in the town of Colleen Bawn, Gwanda District, in

Matabeleland South Province Matabeleland South is a province in southwestern Zimbabwe. With a population of 683,893 as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census. It is the country's least populated province after Matabeleland North.Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North were es ...

, approximately , by road, east of

Gwanda Gwanda is a town in Zimbabwe. It is the capital of the province of Matabeleland South, one of the ten administrative provinces in the country. It is also the district capital of Gwanda District, one of the seven administrative districts in th ...

, the location of the district and provincial headquarters. Colleen Bawn is approximately , by road, southeast of

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

, Zimbabwe's second-largest city. The factory would sit adjacent of PPC's cement factory in Colleen Bawn.

Overview

The power station is designed to have capacity of 32 megawatts. The cement factory is expected to consume 16 megawatts. The remaining output is expected to be sold directly to the ''Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company'' (ZETDC) for integration into the national grid, under a long-term power purchase agreement.

Developers

The power station is being developed by a Zimbabwean power development investor, with technical partners in South Africa. The

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of developers is expected to be revealed when all funding arrangements have been completed. The developers were selected out of a field of 38 companies that responded to the tender. The developers of the power station will operate it, on behalf of the owners. In May 2022, ''Afrik21.africa'' reported that the development contract was awarded to ''CentraWest''. The construction contractor is a

Sinohydro Sinohydro (; full name: 中国水利水电建设集团公司) is a Chinese state-owned enterprise engaged in hydropower and civil engineering construction. It is a major subsidiary of the Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) and ...

of China and ''African Transmission Corporation Holdings'' (ATC), "a consultancy firm specializing in infrastructure projects". The cost of construction is budgeted at US$40 million.

Construction

It is expected that once construction starts, it will take eighteen months to complete the power station. Construction began in May 2022 with commercial commissioning anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2023. In May 2022, it was disclosed that a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 9MW/18MWh will be incorporated in the design.

References

External links