After 8 years of shelving! Restart of 100M W PV project

According to the Herald on September 10, Zimbabwe's 100MW Guanda Solar Energy Project has been officially restarted after eight years of shelving.

The latest disclosure shows that Zimbabwe Electric Power Company (ZPC) has issued a formal notice of commencement to Intratrek Zimbabwe, the contractor of Guanda 100MW solar energy project, authorizing the contractor to enter the site immediately. It is also required to complete the construction of 100MW photovoltaic power station within 24 months.

Intratrek Zimbabwe stated that upon receipt of the notification, the project team, earthmoving machinery and construction equipment had been mobilized, and that the preliminary work included the erection of temporary facilities and preparations for the subsequent full-scale construction.

According to the latest arrangement, the construction period of the project is 24 months.

It is noteworthy that after the restart of the project, Zhengtai Electric will continue to be the technical partner of Intratrek Zimbabwe and participate in the implementation of the EPC project. In retrospect

, in 2015 , Intratrek Zimbabwe won the bid for Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) Guanda 100MW Solar Energy Project with USD 172 million; Chint Electric, as the EPC technical partner of the project, was responsible for equipment supply and project implementation.

The project was originally scheduled to be implemented in stages, and ZPC paid US $5 million in advance for the preliminary feasibility study and site cleaning. However, due to the delay of Intratrek Zimbabwe in completing the project financing , the project failed to start on a large scale, only a small amount of preliminary work was completed, and the construction period was delayed for many times.

In 2018, ZPC formally terminated the EPC cooperation contract between the two parties on the grounds that the project was seriously overdue and did not meet the preconditions of the contract, and reported the case accusing Intratrek Zimbabwe of fraud. Subsequently, Intratrek Zimbabwe filed a lawsuit in court, requesting that the act of termination be declared invalid.

Finally, the High Court of Zimbabwe ruled that the original contract between the two parties was valid and the termination of the contract by ZPC was invalid.

In order to continue the project construction, in March 2025, ZPC and Intratrek Zimbabwe signed a revised EPC contract, reducing the original contract amount of 172 million US dollars to 132 million US dollars .