Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company ZETDC (HARARE REGION) AND ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL AND SPACE AGENCY (ZINGSA) C

GEOSPATIAL
TECHNOLOGY

ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION AND
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY ZETDC (HARARE REGION) AND
ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL AND SPACE AGENCY

(ZINGSA) COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
@ZetdcOfficial

ZETDC (HARARE REGION) AND ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL
AND SPACE AGENCY (ZINGSA) COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON THE
MEASUREMENT AND MODELLING OF GEOMAGNETICALLY INDUCED
CURRENTS (GCI) IN THE GRID

Engineer P.Mundenda (Engineering Manager, ZETDC Harare Region)
leading ZETDC team and Dr Electdom Matandirotya (Department of
Space Science and Applied Physics) leading ZINGSA team

The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space agency (ZINGSA) is a wholly owned
Government of Zimbabwe entity, founded under the Research act [Chapter 10:20] on
26 July 2018.
It was established to support the development and application of geospatial and space
technology to advance Zimbabwe’s modernization and industrialization agenda

www.zetdc.co.zw

ZETDC HARARE REGION TEAM AND ZINGSA TEAM

ZINGSA serves a unique research and innovation role as the country’s advanced
research and advisory institution.
It is responsible for designing, promoting, coordinating and conducting research and
development initiatives that promote advances in Geospatial Sciences and Earth
Observations, Space Engineering, Space Science, Aeronautical Engineering,
Mechatronics, Satellite Communication Systems, Global Navigation Satellite Systems
(GNSS), Land Positioning Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Launch of
Satellites.
Advancement of Space Science and Technology in Zimbabwe is being championed by
the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA), a government
Agency under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and
Technology Development.

www.zetdc.co.zw

Engineer P.Mundenda with ZINGSA Director General Mr Gweme

ZINGSA`s vision is to harness space technology Zimbabwe`s national
development cutting across various economic sectors including energy.
Space science and technology has led to the production of space based applications
which makes it possible to monitor both renewable and non-renewable natural
resources.

Key areas include: quantification of energy resource occurrences, mapping of solar
farms, wind energy, monitoring of power systems.

www.zetdc.co.zw

Photovoltaic Power Potential Mapping
GEOMAGNETICALLY INDUCED CURRENTS (GIC)

www.zetdc.co.zw

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are a potential threat to power system
stability and availability. The flow of GIC through transmission lines and
transformers across a power network could have negative consequences. These
include an increase in the reactive power demanded by GIC-laden transformers,
transformers operating within the region of nonlinearity due to half-wave saturation,
excessive heating in transformers leading to thermal damage, malfunction of
transmission line protection schemes, and voltage problems in affected sections of the
network.
Large-amplitude geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are the natural
consequences of the solar–terrestrial connection triggered by solar eruptions. The
threat of severe damage of power grids due to the GICs is a major concern, in
particular, at high latitudes, but is not well understood as for low-latitude power
grids. The purpose of the collaborative research between ZETDC Harare Region and
ZINGSA is to evaluate the lower limit of the GICs that could flow in the
Zimbabwean power grid against a severe magnetic storm.

Zimbabwean K_PIndices corresponding to Adverse space weather events.

Date
Time
Kp Index
12/5/2021
12am-6pm

28/08/2021
12pm-3am
7

3/11/2021
12pm-3am
6

4/11/2021
6am-12pm
7

13/03/2022
12am-12pm
7

14/03/2022
12pm-3am
6

10/4/2022 3am-6m 6

7

www.zetdc.co.zw

ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION AND
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY ZETDC (HARARE REGION) AND
ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL AND SPACE AGENCY

(ZINGSA) COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

www.zetdc.co.zw