'Coal to power Zimbabwe for 200 years'

Zimbabwe has enough coal reserves to sustain electricity generation for more than 200 years, making the mineral a critical component of the country's energy mix despite the global transition towards renewable energy, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has said.

Speaking at the Chamber of Mines Annual Conference's Coal, Oil and Gas Symposium, ZPC Acting Managing Director Engineer Fannie Mavhondo said the country's coal resources remain abundant, with exploration continuing to identify additional reserves.

"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 is estimated to have about 26 billion tonnes of coal reserves, with the Hwange coalfields containing significant deposits of both thermal and coking coal.

Mavhondo said while Zimbabwe is investing in renewable energy, solar and wind power alone cannot provide the reliable baseload electricity required to support industrialisation.

"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 added that countries which had relied heavily on renewable energy had experienced unstable electricity grids.

"We need to grow this energy mix. We are recognising that we need coal, and we need to infuse renewables," he said.

Mavhondo said ZPC was simultaneously pursuing cleaner coal technologies to reduce emissions.

He said the recently commissioned Hwange Units 7 and 8, which together generate 670 megawatts, were equipped with modern environmental technologies, including flue gas desulphurisation systems that capture sulphur dioxide emissions using limestone, producing gypsum for the cement industry.

The units also incorporate low nitrogen oxide (NOx) burners to minimise 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," he said.

Hwange Power Station's Units 1 to 6, commissioned between 1983 and 1989, have an installed capacity of 920MW but have recently been generating between 300MW and 500MW because of ageing equipment.

A US$450 million rehabilitation agreement signed with Jindal Steel and Power in December 2025 is expected to restore the units and add about 400MW to national generation capacity within 48 months.

"We are calling it future-ready in terms of Units 1 to 6. We are pushing for new technology to come in," Mavhondo said.

Turning to the electricity sector's financial sustainability, Mavhondo criticised the current tariff framework, arguing that regulators should consider the entire electricity value chain rather than focusing solely on the final consumer tariff.

"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 tariffs to be determined at every stage of the value chain, from coal production to electricity generation, transmission and final consumption.

"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 said.

Mavhondo said unpaid electricity bills by local authorities, water utilities, hospitals and other public institutions continued to weaken the sector's financial position.

"A lot of money owed to ZETDC will incapacitate ZETDC from paying ZPC," he said.

He also warned that Zimbabwe required coordinated national planning to avoid an oversupply of coal-fired power projects, noting that several investors were planning to establish thermal power stations over the next decade.

"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," he said.

Alongside thermal generation, Mavhondo said renewable energy would continue playing an important role in reducing the carbon intensity of Zimbabwe's electricity supply.

He said the country's priority should be building a balanced energy mix that guarantees reliable electricity while progressively reducing emissions, arguing that coal would remain the backbone of Zimbabwe's power generation for decades to come.