The Zimbabwe ZhongXin Coking Company (ZZCC) has postponed to early next year the commissioning of 50MW under the first phase of its US$10 million 300MW thermal power plant presently under construction in Hwange.
Bernard Rinomhota
The Zimbabwe ZhongXin Electric Energy (ZZEE), a subsidiary of ZZCC had targeted to produce 50MW by October this year from the first phase of the power project.
ZZCC has since established that the initially planned targets would not be possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused travel restrictions as the world battles to contain the spread of the deadly global contagion.
“We are not able to meet our initial deadline to have the project produce 50MW by October this year under the first phase of the project.
“This is because our engineers who are supposed to work on the project are still stuck in China following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic,” ZZEE project manager Mr. Bob Wang in an interview last week.
Among other major technical works, the engineers from China are expected to erect electrical boxes at the thermal power plant.
The Covid-19 pandemic was first detected in China last December and so far the deadly infectious disease has spread across all continents infecting more than 20 million people while the global death toll is now close to one million.
“As our engineers are still stuck in China we have postponed the commissioning of this project under the first phase to February or March next year,” he said.
ZZCC is a joint venture project between Qualisave Mineral Resources of Zimbabwe and Yuxia ZhongXin Coking Company of China.
The colliery is building its thermal power station whose full construction is expected to be complete by 2023 producing electricity to support its coal mining operations while also feeding excess power into the national grid.
The thermal power plant, which is being done in phases of 50MW, has in terms of construction work progress seen boilers and turbines, among other critical equipment, installed.
Upon completion, the power plant is expected to consume 300 000 tonnes of coal annually.
Meanwhile, ZZCC has applied from Government for a Coal Special Grant Grant (CSG) to enjoy economies of scale once the firm starts producing coal to support its operations.
Currently, ZZCC has hinted that it is receiving inadequate coal supplies from Makomo Resources and Hwange Colliery Company Limited.
The company has two plants requiring 15 000 tonnes of coking coal per month.
This article first appeared in the Mining Zimbabwe Magazine September 2020 issue