21 May 2019

At peak the plant will provide close to 45 per cent of the business’s electricity needs

Zimbabwean telecom giant Econet Wireless has commissioned a 450 KWp solar power plant at its Willowvale industrial complex.

The grid tied solar system will operate under a 25-year Independent Power Producer (IPP) licence.

It was implemented by Distributed Power Africa (DPA), Econet’s solar business in line with the company’s commitment towards the adoption of clean and renewable energy in Zimbabwe.

The Willowvale solar plant has a total of 1,435 panels installed at car-ports and rooftops.

It comes complete with a real-time power monitoring system and the solar plant will generate an estimated 780MWh of energy annually.

Under the terms of the licence, Econet Willowvale will generate and supply power for self-consumption and at peak the plant will provide close to 45 per cent of the business’s electricity needs.

During the commissioning ceremony, group chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni, said the commissioning of the Willowvale solar power plant demonstrated the company’s focus to  ensure that all its offices nationwide transition to clean and reliable energy as rapidly as possible.

“Our organisation launched a Green campaign in 2018, which has seen the company investing in alternative renewable energies, starting with six of our own business premises,” he said.