Biggest Retailer in Zimbabwe Turns to Solar Amid Power Crisis

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Corporates in Zimbabwe are moving to solar energy to stave off erratic electricity supply and escalating fuel costs.

OK Zimbabwe, the largest retail operator with 64 stores in the southern African nation, is joining the move to renewable energy and will start using solar power at its suburban stores this year, according to Chief Executive Officer Alex Siyavora.

Power cuts lasting as long as 18 hours a day have added to cash shortages and runaway inflation, making business tough for retailers in an economy estimated to have contracted last year. Shortages have been exacerbated by a drought that’s cut output at the main hydro-power plant in Kariba dam.

“The power situation is eating into the profitability of companies,” Siyavora said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in the capital, Harare. OK Zimbabwe’s stores have relied on diesel generators to keep operating.

Shops in two affluent Harare suburbs will be the first to be completely solar powered.

“We want to get as much as we can to generate for self-sufficiency,” said Siyavora, adding that the change to renewable energy required “a lot of capital outlay” that was limited by foreign-currency shortages.

Econet Wireless Ltd, the country’s largest mobile-phone operator, said last year it was switching to solar and hybrid batteries from Tesla Inc. to keep its base stations and switching centers operating. Zesa Holdings Ltd., the utility responsible for providing electricity in Zimbabwe, is inviting bids for a roof-top solar power installation at its head office.

Source: Bloomberg Business News