Planet
Vungu Solar will deliver 30MWac of renewable energy to the country’s grid, displacing diesel back–up for homes and businesses.
| Company | Vungu Solar |
| Sector | Power / Energy |
| Country | Zimbabwe |
| PIDG Commitment |
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| Dates of PIDG involvement |
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Zimbabwe has an electrification rate of 49%i, with the majority of grid-connected customers being concentrated in urban areas. With growing demand from industry and domestic consumers, the gap between energy supply and demand is growing. The country’s installed generation is largely reliant upon hydro and coal.ii The Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) is keen to diversify the country’s energy mix and to attract international project finance and expertise to the country’s renewable energy sector.
PIDG partnered with local developer, Energywise Equipment (Pvt) Ltd (Energywise) and Impala Power Company Ltd (Impala) to develop Zimbabwe’s first internationally project-financed solar Independent Power Producer (IPP). Vungu Solar will add 30MWac of new, renewable energy to the Zimbabwean grid, supporting efforts to meet growing demand for electricity. The project is also well positioned as part of the strategic corridor for the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP).
The Government of Zimbabwe chose Vungu as its preferred bidder in a national pilot programme designed to develop a suite of standardised documentation to be used by future solar IPPs in the country.
Vungu Solar will deliver 30MWac of renewable energy to the country’s grid, displacing diesel back–up for homes and businesses.
With support from the Africa Legal Support Facility, the Ministry of Energy and Power Development have prepared a standardised Power Purchase Agreement, Government Project Support Agreement, negotiating these with Vungu Solar. These documents will support future renewable IPP projects.
As lead developer, PIDG, through InfraCo, brings its experience of structuring bankable IPPs and raising project finance in frontier markets. By piloting the viability of new standardised documentation for solar IPPs, it is anticipated that Zimbabwe will attract further private sector investment into its renewable energy sector.
We bring expertise in developing projects to international health, safety, environmental, social (HSES), and business integrity standards to the project.
