PPC invests US$37m in two solar plants
CEMENT manufacturing company PPC Zimbabwe has invested US$37million towards a 30 mega watts solar project as it seeks to mitigate power challenges that have been hampering production.
The company operates a clinker plant in Gwanda District at Colleen Bawn where 20 mega watts of solar powered electricity is set to be installed while Cement Siding which is the milling plant situated on the outskirts of Bulawayo is set to be installed with 10 mega watts of solar generated power.
With the country’s national grid falling short of electricity supply coupled with vandalism such as theft of cables, power outrages have affected production in a number of sectors including mining and manufacturing.
The installation of the solar system come not only as a mitigatory measure but the system is rapidly becoming a mainstream alternative energy source in the world.
Solar energy comes with a number of advantages that include less service disruption, reduced electricity bills, increase in value of energy-efficiency, renewable energy, reduced carbon emission as well as low maintenance costs amongst other advantages.
PPC Zimbabwe managing director Mr Kelibone Masiyane told Sunday Business last week at the company’ Cement Siding plant, that the project was part of the company’s efforts to scale up production.
“Next month we will have a ground breaking ceremony to set up a solar plant in our Collen Bawn plant. We are talking about a 20 mega watts solar plant. Here in Bulawayo we will set up a 10 mega watts plant. So these are efforts coming from our side in terms of complementing Government efforts. We have a lot of power challenges.
As we speak, this plant was down for the last four days due to power cuts. So what we are doing is to try and complement what government has been doing,” he said.
The development will not only scale up production but will come in handy for the nation as surplus energy will be fed into the national grid.
“We have injected US$37m towards the project. Our plant in Colleen Bawn uses only 13MW while the one in Bulawayo uses only 5MW hence the surplus will be fed into the national grid,” said Mr Masiyane.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Dr Mavis Sibanda describedthe development as one of the signs that industry is keen to grow.
“Companies have shown that they are putting more resources into production and that is very interesting. As you can see here at PPC they are putting a solar plant which means that the issue of electricity which has been mentioned by a few other companies will be dealt with.
People are not only waiting for the Government to come and help them, they are also investing in green energy like the PPC,” said Dr Sibanda.
The development will see increased local production of cement as well as the continued trajectory of increased manufacturing capacity utilisation to over 61 percent, according to estimates from industrialists.