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Rio Energy Ltd., a unit of RioZim Ltd., will build a 2,100-megawatt thermal power plant with China Gezhouba Group Corp in northern Zimbabwe at a projected cost of $ 3 billion, Rio Energy said Monday.
“CGGC will develop the project and help with fundraising,” said Caleb Dengu, president of Rio Energy Ltd last week. The Sengwa power plant will be built in four phases of approximately 700 megawatts each, with a total capacity of 2,800 megawatts.
“We have coal reserves to support a 10,000 megawatt plant in Sengwa,” Dengu said.
A 250-kilometer (155-mile) pipeline will transport water from Lake Kariba to Sengwa. The pipeline and a 420 kilovolt-amp power line will be built by PowerChina, Dengu said. The first phase of the project will cost around $ 1.2 billion, he added.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has formally expressed interest in the project and is negotiating with Sinosure, also known as China Export and Credit Insurance Corp, to cover the costs of country risk insurance, Dengu told Bloomberg.
Zimbabwe generates and imports around 1,300 megawatts of electricity, below its demand of 2,200 megawatts. Daily blackouts have hampered industrial capacity for nearly two decades.
A two-year drought ruined the country’s Kariba thermal power plant by draining the reservoir, while aging equipment at its main Hwange thermal plant causes incessant breakdowns and outages, causing many consumers to receive only eight hours of power at day.
RioZim was separated from Rio Tinto Plc in 2004. London-based Rio initially retained a stake in diamond mines and Sengwa before selling them to RioZim in 2015.
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