Zimbabwe has sufficient coal reserves to sustain power generation for more than 200 years, making the resource indispensable to the country’s energy mix despite the global push for renewables, the Zimbabwe Power Company’s Acting Managing Director has said.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Engineer Fannie Mavhondo told the Chamber of Mines Annual Conference’s Coal, Oil and Gas Symposium that ZPC’s numbers show the resource remains abundant, with further exploration still underway.
“Our view at ZPC is that the resource is affordable. Our numbers show that we believe over 200 years of mining are still with us in terms of the availability of the resource,” Mavhondo said. “It was over 150, so we are aligned in terms of how much is still available, and more is still being explored.”
Zimbabwe has an estimated 26 billion tonnes of coal reserves, with the Hwange area holding large deposits of both coking and thermal coal. Worldometer has previously estimated the country has about 163 years of coal left at current consumption levels, excluding unproven reserves.
Renewables cannot stand alone
Mavhondo pushed back against the notion that coal can be replaced by renewable energy, arguing that solar and wind cannot provide the baseload stability required by an industrialising economy.
“We recognise that the availability of renewables does not allow for 100% use,” he said. “Renewables can’t stand on their own. There is no solar at night. Battery storage is still through the roof. It’s not something that is sustainable.”
He noted that countries which have attempted to rely heavily on renewables have “faced the wrath of an unstable grid, and it has not been sustainable.”
ZPC’s position is clear: coal and renewables are not mutually exclusive. “We need to grow this energy mix. We are recognising that we need coal, and we need to infuse renewables,” Mavhondo said.
New technology, decarbonisation efforts underway
Mavhondo acknowledged that the industry must improve efficiencies and decarbonise by introducing new technology. The commissioning of Hwange Units 7 and 8—which generate 335 megawatts each, for a total of 670 MW—came with advanced emission-control systems. The plant includes a flue gas desulphurisation unit that captures sulphur dioxide emissions using limestone, producing gypsum as a by-product sold to cement manufacturers. Low-NOx burners have also been installed to minimise nitrogen oxide emissions.
“We are putting in limestone to manage the emissions, and we are also improving and rehabilitating Units 1 to 6 to make sure we manage the emissions,” Mavhondo said.
Originally commissioned between 1983 and 1989, Hwange Units 1 to 6 have a combined capacity of 920 MW but have recently generated only 300 MW to 500 MW due to age-related mechanical failures. A US$450 million rehabilitation agreement with Jindal Steel and Power, signed in December 2025, will operate under a Rehabilitate, Operate and Transfer model, with physical refurbishment works expected to start in the first quarter of 2026. The refurbishment is expected to add 400 MW to national output within 48 months.
“We are calling it future-ready in terms of Units 1 to 6,” Mavhondo said. “We are pushing for new technology to come in.”
Tariff structure broken, the regulator must intervene
Mavhondo identified the electricity tariff structure as a fundamental problem, arguing that the regulator focuses only on the end-user tariff without managing the parameters that build it up.
“If our regulator is only looking at the end tariff, but not managing the parameters that have to build it up, we have got this problem,” he said.
He called for a comprehensive review of the entire value chain—from coal to power to the client—to determine appropriate tariffs at each stage. “We need to determine the appropriate tariff at each stage, so that the price of coal is determined, then the generation tariff before it goes to ZETDC, and then the tariff for the various categories of our clients in the economy.”
He described ZESA as “a child who is between a rock and a hard surface,” caught between unpaid bills from local authorities and critical institutions, and the obligation to pay coal producers for their supplies.
“A lot of money owed to ZETDC will incapacitate ZETDC from paying ZPC,” he said, pointing to unpaid debts from water supply infrastructure, local authorities, hospitals and critical security institutions.
Mavhondo warned that without coordinated planning at the government level, Zimbabwe could face a boom-and-bust cycle as multiple coal producers rush to develop their own power plants. He noted that previous speakers had projected 15 coal-fired power plants in the next decade.
“If we are to survive, if we say ZPC only takes from two or three miners, it means the rest may want to go into coal power plants as well or any other alternative. So you may see a boom again on the other side, which creates a deficit on the other,” he said.
“There is alignment at the planning level, at the level of government, to say how many coal stations or special plants do we issue, for what level of production, to generate how much power, and where the offtake is. All that analysis would make every project bring a boom, and it can be supported.”
Alongside coal projects, Mavhondo said, “you can then have the renewables that maintain a level that shows that we are not just coming up with… we are trying to decarbonise the grid in terms of the total energy that is being supplied.”
ZPC’s position reflects the broader reality of Zimbabwe’s energy landscape: coal remains the bedrock of power generation, with more than 50% of baseload power supplied by Hwange’s thermal units. The challenge, as Mavhondo framed it, is not whether to use coal, but how to use it more efficiently, more cleanly, and in a way that ensures the entire value chain—from miner to consumer—remains sustainable.
