ZESA Signs 15 yr India’s Jindal Steel Deal adding 400 MW to grid in 4 yrs

By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwe has penned a 15 year deal with India’s Jindal Steel to curb the current electricity deficit which meets only the country’s half of its 2,000 MW electricity demand behind experiences in incessant extended power cuts due to diminishing capacity at its power plants.

Zimbabwe’s cabinet approved this deal on September 17, and only finalised and signed in December, ZESA’s acting CEO Cletus Nyachowe said in an update.

“The 15-year agreement with Jindal will lead to enhanced power generation, which will add 400 MW to our output within the next 48 months,” Nyachowe said.
“Rehabilitation work is set to commence in the first quarter of 2026,” he added.

This Jindal Steel Deal will add 400 megawatts to the grid to the 1,520 MW Hwange plant, the country’s largest, which was upgraded in 2023 with the commissioning of two units adding 600 MW.

The 400 MW will be realized in under 4 years and will be the needed relief considering older units built in the 1980s are operating at a third of their capacity due to breakdowns. Kariba hydropower station, built in the 1960s, completed a 300 MW upgrade in 2018, which boosted its capacity to 1,050 MW but its generation capacity has also dipped in recent years because of climate change-induced droughts.

This means Zimbabwe thermal plant upgrade will add 400 megawatts to its power grid, a fifth of the country’s current electricity demand, under the $455 million upgrade of its Hwange coal-fired power plant, as confirmed by the head of state-owned power utility ZESA.

This 15-year concession deal with the Africa-focused unit of India’s Jindal Steel (JINT.NS), makes possible the refurbishment of some of the thermal power plant’s ageing units.