Power company in bid to end load-shedding

Business
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA ELECTRICAL power engineering company, Power Network Projects (Pvt) Ltd (PNP) has intensified a drive to locate electrical faults in a bid to complement power provision by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa).

The company, which specialises in high voltage maintenance and construction of substations, has a  client base composed of mines, farms, telecommunication service providers, local government authorities and other bulk electricity consumers.

“We are currently working together with Zesa in areas such as transformer oil filtration and cable fault location,” PNP  business development manager Alois Matarangwanda said.

Matarangwanda said PNP was equipped with cable fault locators that identify faults in the shortest possible time without necessarily digging in the ground to find them.

PNP is constructing a dedicated feeder for Rusape town council to ensure that the area is ring fenced and spared from load shedding.

He explained that the company is strategically positioning itself to fill the void in Zimbabwe’s power supply market, as they have recently applied for a licence adding that this will reduce the costs associated with importing high voltage electrical equipment.

PNP, which is capitalised to the tune of US$1 million, owns a transformer oil purification plant with a capacity of 4 500 litres per hour, substation commissioning equipment, cable phasing gear and infrared thermography equipment.

Matarangwanda however bemoaned the limited credit facilities that banks are offering saying this would cripple new entrants’ efforts to enter the power generation business.

“We have been operating on the basis of re-investment, raising capital from funds generated by projects, but our new partners will assist us to make a presence in Zimbabwe very soon,” he said.

Zesa spokesperson, Fullard Gwasira said that although the power utility is not a licensing authority,  it would welcome the entry of new players in the electricity sector.

Zesa has only two cable fault locators, servicing the whole country, which detect underground cable faults while the country’s undergro-und power lines are old and breaking down constantly.

“Indeed we only have two working machines at the moment but it must be understood that recapitalisation constraints, debts owed by customers and the hyperinflationary environment we came from before 2009 have badly affected Zesa,” Gwasira said.