Leading corporates in the Zimbabwe’s Commercial and Industrial sector-Schweppes, Kefalos and Surrey have switched over to solar with Distributed Power Africa (DPA) through our Power Lease Financing Agreements (PLAs). This agreement presents a zero upfront investment and zero technical risk to the customer. A total of 1.7MW of electricity will be collectively generated by these plants, for self-consumption. The solar systems have been designed to have low environmental impact, and will contribute to reducing the country’s carbon footprint greatly.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a crippling power crisis, with the current load-shedding schedules adversely affecting the operations, and viability of many businesses. The use of generators as back-up is becoming increasingly expensive because of the rising cost of fuel, and many companies are looking to invest in renewable energy solutions. Beverage manufacturer, Schweppes, have invested in a 1MW rooftop solar solution which makes them the largest DPA installation to date, and the largest single self-consumption solar plant in Zimbabwe. Kefalos, has in turn invested in a 600kW solar installation with DPA while Surrey has also installed a 100kW solar PV plant.
Solar power will aid companies like these in increasing their current supply of products to the market, through improved operational efficiencies in the processing of perishable goods which require 100% power up-time. Without power, most industrial companies are being forced to scale down operations or close shop, both leading to retrenchment of workers. Government is in support of renewable energy adoption to curb this, and recently removed import duties on solar-equipment and accessories to ease the process.