Chinese companies take lead in developing clean power supply in Zimbabwe

Africa possessed plenty of potentially renewable energy sources such as hydro power, geothermal, biomass, solar and wind energy and these presented huge investment opportunities for China, Denton said. Unfortunately, it continued to lag behind in the exploitation of renewable energy mainly due to lack of funding to bankroll clean energy projects.

Zimbabwe's neighbors Zambia and South Africa are also moving towards solar energy development with Zambia hoping to triple power output to 6,000 MW in two years through expansion of solar energy projects by foreign investors.

South Africa has coal, wind, nuclear, solar, gas and hydro, with coal being the biggest producer at 84 percent in 2012 while solar was at zero percent.

It intends to move to 30 percent coal, 17 percent nuclear, 16 percent wind, 15 percent solar, 15 percent gas and 7.2 percent hydro by 2030.

On a smaller scale, many people are also taking to solar development at their homes to beat power blackouts running to more than 24 hours in some instances.

Although they note that solar power is expensive to install, they have realized that it becomes cheaper in the long run because of low maintenance costs and the free sunshine.

"Due to the high costs involved, about $6,000 for a three-bedroomed home, I am phasing the installation of solar power at my home, and although not done yet, I feel very good about it," said Harare resident Daniel Kwaramba.

Zimbabwe produces a maximum 1,100 MW - half its peak demand and industries have to fork out more money to run generators in order to keep their businesses running.

Zimbabwe currently has two major power plants-the hydro-electrical 750MW plant in Kariba, completed in 1977 and the thermal 920MW Hwange station commissioned between 1983 and 1987. As of June 30, the two plants were generating 606MW and 545MW, respectively.

Zimbabwe shares Lake Kariba with Zambia, which gets 90 percent of its power from hydro which it generates on the northern bank of the dam wall.

The lake, which is on the Zambezi River, gets most of its water from the upstream countries of Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Angola, which have not been spared by less rains as a result of climate change.

Chinese company Sino Hydro is expanding the Kariba South power station to produce an additional 300 MW for Zimbabwe at a cost of about $355 million.