LOCAL firm, Purple Rose Technologies, is seeking to raise nearly US$62 million to build and run a 50-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity producing plant in the Mashonaland West province, NewsDay Business can reveal.
The proposed power project comes as Zimbabwe’s existing power generation facilities are generating between 1 000MW and 1 500MW against a national demand of over 2 000MW.
The country's power generation deficit is mainly due to low production of electricity at the two main plants, the Kariba South Hydropower Station and the Hwange Thermal Power Station.
At the Kariba South Hydropower Station, it is generating record low levels of electricity owing to declining water sources, while technical faults at the Hwange Thermal Power Station continue to hamper its full potential.
In a prospectus for the project, Purple Rose Technologies said the project’s expansion plan would see the management team aggressively soliciting additional rounds of capital while concurrently re-investing a significant portion of the company’s after-tax income into the acquisition of new locations.
“Purple Rose Technologies is seeking to raise US$61 857 251 from both equity and local pension funds. The preliminary terms of this arrangement call for the local pension fund to receive an ownership interest in the business (up to 30%) coupled with a recurring stream of dividends starting in the first year of positive cash flows,” the firm said in the prospectus.
“The pension fund will also receive a seat on the board of directors. Purple Rose intends to secure funding from the targeted pension fund after attaining national project status as well as prescribed asset status. The financing will be used to construct the power plant as well as to fund the operating budget for the first year of operations.”
The firm said the solar farm earmarked for the project would be in Mutorashanga, a small mining town in Mashonaland West province, and will consist of four major fields, with each field to produce circa 12,5MW.
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The energy production is expected to be derived from monocrystalline photovoltaic solar panels that will be mounted on the ground on a single axis tracking system.
Purple Rose Technologies said an advanced simulation that was done for the envisaged power plant shows that the estimated annual energy yield is 128 782 megawatts per hour and that the estimated area for the solar farm was around 335 356m².
Of that area, the firm added, 302 268m² of it would be covered by the solar panels.
“The feed-in tariff for the energy produced shall be US$0,078 and was calculated according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority. Tariff Code,” Purple Rose Technologies said.
“Soventix Pty Ltd, the technical partner, will design and install the solar photovoltaic on-grid farm at Ruoka Farm, Mutorashanga, Mashonaland West Province.
“Purple Rose Tech will enter into supply agreements with original equipment manufacturers and a balance of system contract which includes supplying the necessary solar and electrical equipment.”
Soventix Pty Limited is a subsidiary of the German based, Soventix GmbH firm, which deals in the development and realisation of solar photovoltaic plants.
Purple Rose Technologies said that the PV modules and inverters were the most significant components to be used for a solar PV plant.
