Zimbabwe has signed a $455 million concession agreement with Jindal Africa, a subsidiary of India’s Jindal Steel, to rehabilitate the ageing Hwange coal-fired power plant. The 15-year deal, announced by Energy Minister July Moyo, will see Jindal finance, refurbish, and operate the facility’s older units before handing them back to the state-owned Zimbabwe Power Company.
The project targets six generating units at Hwange, which date back to the 1980s and are currently operating at around one-third of their original capacity due to frequent breakdowns. Refurbishment is planned to take four years.
Hwange is the country’s largest thermal station, with a total installed capacity of 1520 MW. A 2023 expansion added two new units providing an additional 600 MW, but the older units remain unreliable.
Under the agreement, Jindal will recover its investment through electricity sales during the concession period, helping ease financial pressure on the government. Zimbabwe currently produces only about half of its 2000 MW demand, leading to widespread power cuts.
Alongside Hwange, the nation also relies on the Kariba hydropower station, upgraded in 2018 to 1050 MW, but drought has curtailed its output in recent years. The Hwange rehabilitation is seen as a key step towards stabilising national supply and reducing reliance on imports.
