Power generation at Hwange back to normal

Patrick Chitumba Senior Reporter
POWER production at Hwange Thermal Power Station has returned to normal after three units, which had been down for the past three weeks, were resuscitated.
The country had been facing increased load-shedding after a fault in South Africa had caused the malfunctioning of the three units.The units are generating 238 megawatts out of an installed capacity of 920 megawatts.

Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Engineer Munacho Mutezo told Chronicle during a tour of Hwange Power Station (HPS) on Wednesday that the three units had been fixed.

“The units are up and power generation is on course but work is already in progress to install protective systems to curb future problems,” he said.
Eng Mutezo said plans to construct two new power generating units to give the country an additional 600 megawatts were being stalled by delays in the tendering process.

“We are also working on Hwange units 7 and 8 which are putting up new generators to produce an extra 600MW. The process of getting finality on the tenders, especially the financial closure, takes some time,” he said.

“We will be letting the public know when the tender is finally awarded and we expect that sometime this year there will be finality to the project.”
Eng Mutezo was accompanied by Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) general manager, Engineer Noah Gwariro and senior officials from the power utility.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a power deficit of more than 1000 megawatts and the breakdown of three units at Hwange increased load-shedding which resulted in complaints from both domestic and industrial consumers.