About the only good thing about last year’s debilitating powercuts was convince both organisations and individuals of the need and urgency to invest in solar energy. To date a number of organisations including famously Econet, Liquid Telecoms and Schweppes Zimbabwe have made the switch. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has also now joined the growing list of homes and companies relying on solar energy.

The entity recently switched to solar after the completion of their 40kVA solar plant. The company said that they wanted to switch to a clean and sustainable source of energy that was also reliable. With solar energy the company can now keep it’s trading servers running without disruption. Previously whenever there was a powercut the company had to make use of expensive diesel generators.

Pleased to announce that ZSE is now 100% solar. Good for the environment(and the pocket).At peak we were burning 80litres per day!
Justin Bgoni is CEO of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)

According to some estimates, the exchange is going to make as much as US$42 000 in savings each year. This includes possible fuel expenditure as well as electricity bills.

A lot of private households have also made the switch to solar with several solar startups sprouting up in response to powercuts that the country experienced until about March. The state utility ZESA has promised there won’t be extensive loadshedding this year but there have been instances when neighbourhoods have lost power due to what can only be described as loadshedding.