Harare — AN estimated US$400 million would be required for the planned expansion of the Kariba South hydropower plant in the next three years.

Kariba Hydro Power Station is currently churning an average 750 megawatts, its optimal capacity, following recent rehabilitation of the plant.

However, the expansion of the power plant's capacity will not result in consistent high power output as the water levels in the Zambezi River have gone down considerably over the last few decades.

The expansion of Kariba would, however, give Zimbabwe more latitude to cope with high demand, as that would allow use of more water power to run turbines for more output at the peak of demand for power.

Less water and generators would have to be used during certain periods when demand for power is low such that power utility Zesa stays within water use rations set by the Zambezi River Authority.

In effect, it means Zimbabwe has more power for more energy only for given periods after which it would have to cut back on the amount of water used to power turbines, thereby reducing output.

An acute power deficit means the country has had to find alternative ways to reduce the effect of the shortage as demand for power rises with a recovery in the performance of the local economy.

While there are a number of options in this regard, expansion of Kariba South offered an affordable opportunity to generate significant amounts of additional electricity in the immediate future.

"In this regard, planned power supply expansion projects during 2010-2012 under the Kariba South expansion project will cost about US$300-US$400 million," said the Ministry of Finance.

The estimates are contained in the three-year macro-economic framework presented by Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week.

Hwange Power Station would also be expanded, albeit in the long term, to ease the problem of power shortage and the last study indicated the exercise would require about US$600 million.

This project is slightly more expensive compared to the hydropower plant expansion at Kariba South since, apart from the cost of infrastructure, coal to power the plant has to be paid for.

Focus is, however, presently on mobilisation of financial resources for the refurbishment of all the six generating units at the power station, which is producing an average of 420MW.

Nonetheless, there are several other projects that the Government and the private sector could pursue and these include the Batoka Hydro Power Project and Gokwe North Thermal Power Project.

Although falling outside the macro-economic policy framework, Batoka has been earmarked for a joint venture with Zambia and if implemented would add 800MW to the national grid.

The Gokwe North Thermal Power Project, which also falls outside the three-year macro-economic policy framework, has potential to add over 1 400MW to the national power grid.

This project has been on the cards for a long time and the Government is still scouting for interested investors to develop it.

Apart from construction of the power plant and transmission infrastructure, estimated to cost US$1,4 billion, investment opportunities are also available in coal mining and fuel supply to the plant.

Other long-term power generation opportunities in the country include the development of coal bed methane in Lupane and this could chew an estimated US$450 million for a 300MW power plant.

Opportunities are also there for development of mini-hydropower projects and notable among these is the Condo Hydro Power Project.

The Condo project requires an estimated US$150 million to build a 100MW plant.

Cognisant of the huge financial demands it is facing, the Government has encouraged the private sector to take up the numerous investment opportunities available in the power generation sector.