DPA connects Schweppes Zimbabwe plant to 550kW solar energy system

Pan-African renewable energy company, Distributed Power Africa (DPA), has completed a 550 kilowatts ground-mounted solar plant for Schweppes Zimbabwe’s juicing plant in Beitbridge. The solar energy project is DPA’s second deal with Schweppes Zimbabwe after the 1MW solar energy rooftop plant DPA installed at Schweppes’ Willowvale plant in the capital Harare.

The solar energy facility will meet the entire electricity needs of Schweppes Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge juicing plant. Surplus power from the system will be fed to the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company (ZETDC) grid.

Schweppes Zimbabwe’s CEO, Charles Msipa, was quoted in Zimbabwe’s state owned daily paper Chronicle saying they are in the process of finalising net metering with state utility ZETDC. 

“This plant runs from June to September, during the citrus season and offseason. The solar plant will be able to feed the power into the national electricity grid. It has been fully commissioned and running. What is outstanding is to finalise net metering with the ZETDC, so that we can get credit for the power that we supply into the main grid,” said Msipa.

Schweppes Zimbabwe says it intends to roll out renewable energy installations at its production and sales depots across the country to “green the entire business”. This is part of the company’s climate change mitigation strategy.

The use of renewable energy for Schweppes Zimbabwe’s production also reduces the company’s reliance on diesel generators during times of power blackouts (loadshedding). Zimbabwe’s intermittent power system means availability of electricity for industrial production is not always guaranteed. Many companies have to switch to alternative sources of power like costly diesel generators or solar energy in times of power blackouts.

The 500kW will help reduce Schweppes Zimbabwe’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as minimise the company’s operating expenditure as solar energy is much cheaper than diesel generated energy.