Successful premiere for hydropower specialists in Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe is a new small-scale hydropower plant in Zimbabwe, Africa, and began generating clean electricity for the first time in November 2024. The entire range of electromechanical and I&C equipment here was supplied by the Austrian hydropower specialists at GUGLER Water Turbines GmbH. The Austrian hydropower experts had already successfully completed a whole series of projects in Africa. This project was the first opportunity for Gugler to demonstrate its expertise in Zimbabwe, a country with a population of around 15 million people. The power plant is located at the foot of the Mutirikwi dam and utilises the water released from the reservoir for irrigation. The centrepieces of the power plant are two identical Francis turbines supplied by GUGLER. Together they generate a bottleneck output of 5.4MW. In addition to stabilising the energy availability of the national grid, the new green power plant is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 11,100 tons per year to contribute to Zimbabwe‘s transition to a sustainable energy future. According to the lowcarbonpower.org website, 55% of Zimbabwe‘s electricity needs in 2022 were covered by hydropower.