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Harare Bureau
HWANGE Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 was reconnected to the grid on Wednesday, adding an additional 300 megawatts (MW), while Unit 8 will be taken off the grid this week for routine maintenance.
The two power units were synchronised to the national grid in November 2022 and March this year, respectively, boosting power generation by 600MW. Unit 7 went off-grid in October for statutory maintenance, while Unit 8 will be off-grid from this month to the beginning of January.
Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo said power supplies will, however, not be affected during the festive season.
“Unit 7 has kicked in and Unit 8 will be taken off the grid in a week. However, this will not severely increase load shedding as most industries will be closing for the festive season holiday, with most of the power set to be used by domestic users. Unit 8 will be back on the grid in January and we anticipate there will be a steep decrease in load shedding as the two units will now be back on the grid.”
As of last Friday, the Zimbabwe Power Company was producing 1 542MW, with Hwange generating 964MW, while Kariba weighed in with 540MW. Independent power producers contributed 38MW. Government will also be refurbishing Units 1 to 6 after securing a US$310 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of India.
Online Reporter