Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi says that he will seriously consider setting up solar energy power stations at airports after he was alerted of a blackout at Harare’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport early this week.

Failing to confirm nor decline the blackout rumour, Chasi said he “just received some dark pictures” on social media, suggesting that the airports have been hit by load shedding.

“Your question cannot be answered outside of our power challenges. I will engage Zesa to establish what it is that needs to be done, but primarily like they (Caaz) told, I presume you talked to Caaz about generators; that is what needs to be encouraged.

“But not only that, we also think that airports are good candidates for solar power. So I will be engaging the Ministry of Transport in that connection,” said Minister Chasi.

He said there was need for uninterrupted power to airports, through solar.

“This is not only confined to airports, but we would like to encourage all entities to invest in solar power to assure themselves of uninterrupted power supply and business continuity,” said Minister Chasi.

Media was this week abuzz with pictures of the country’s main airport caught up in a ZESA loadshedding schedule that left the major port of entry without power.