BCC to ramp up solar investments

Zim Now Writer

The Bulawayo City Council, which is targeting the transformation of the city of Bulawayo into ma smart city by 2024, is working on ensuring the increased use of solar power in the city.

This comes as Cabinet recently approved the implementation of a proposed 50-megawatt solar farm joint venture between the local authority and Williams Engineering at Ncema Dam in Esigodini.

The envisaged power plant is expected to create 200 jobs during construction and 40 jobs during its operation while also providing dedicated power to Bulawayo industries in the designated Special Economic Zones.

The plant is also expected to provide an alternative revenue stream for the local authority.

BCC corporate communications manager, Nesisa Mpofu said that the local authority has already completed a marketing framework that is part of the activities towards attracting more investment to ensure these projects are duly implemented.

“The City of Bulawayo is an industrial city and is largely dependent on a constant electricity supply and this is what led to the city commissioning a power plant around 1947, at its peak the power station produced 120 megawatts for the Bulawayo economy. Now the station generates less than 20 megawatts, when it is operating.

“Due to the problems faced by the city’s power sector, Bulawayo has identified solar power as a sustainable and much cheaper source of power in the long run. Pursuant to the City’s vision of attaining Smart City Status by 2024, solar power is the future of power generation, residential, commercial and industrial rooftops are earmarked for solar energy investment,” said Mpofu.

She further said that the local authority was encouraging diverse investments in the sector, including the construction of solar power stations, solar farms and the installation of solar panels in the city’s prominent buildings and industries.

BCC’s main revenue hall in the Central Business District is already operating on 100 percent solar power.

“The city is encouraging a diverse portfolio of investment in the sector which includes the construction of solar power stations, solar farms, installation of solar panels in the city’s prominent buildings and industries, installation of solar panels at the city’s dams and waste-water and sewer treatment plants and floating solar farms in council dams whereby solar farms are erected in all BCC water bodies such as at the Lower Ncema Dam,” she said.

The council spokesperson added that other opportunities that had been identified include solar-powered streetlights, solar-powered robots, solar rooftops technology, solar-powered digital bus stops, solar charging stations, solar geysers and solar powered service stations.