In Zimbabwe, the national electric company ZESA has ordered independent producers of electricity to cede their surplus production to the national electricity network, reports BNN Bloomberg . This initiative aims to reduce the country’s electricity import requirements in deficit of foreign exchange.
This sale of electricity to the national grid will be done as part of a net-metering program. This disposal model is open to producers of solar energy already connected to the electricity grid. ZESA will pay for the electricity supplied in the form of reductions on future invoices.
“Net-metering will benefit the electric company and the nation more generally because it will allow the economy of currencies through the decline in imports,” ZESA said in a statement.
Over the past year, Zimbabwe has exempted solar equipment from taxes to encourage the use of this alternative source of energy. The country is enduring an energy deficit due to the drop in water in the Kariba dam, which forces large consumers to feed themselves on generators, sometimes 18 hours a day.
