Constant Hwange Breakdowns Making Load Shedding Timetable Impossible: Minister
By Staff Reporter
Energy and power development Minister Zhemu Soda says power utility company ZESA holdings is unable to provide load shedding schedules due to the unreliability of the aging Hwange Power Station which is constantly breaking down.
Responding to lawmakers who wanted to know why the power utility had stopped issuing load-shedding schedules, the Minister said schedules are expected to resume once unit seven and eight is up.
“At the moment, it’s very difficult to come up with a schedule because we have unplanned power outages at Hwange due to its age. We cannot plan well based on the capacity of Hwange. We have unplanned outages that are occurring from Hwange.
“In the morning today, we were obtaining a capacity of 387 megawatts, and you will be surprised that it can go down to 100 megawatts. Of the four units that are currently in service, some would have gone out of service. So the power station is not reliable at the moment because of age.
“We will soon be availing a load-shedding schedule after the coming in of unit seven and unit eight. If there is going to be any deficit after the two units come in, then ZESA will have to give a load-shedding schedule,” said Zhemu
Meanwhile, the Minister said the country is importing around 170 megawatts of electricity from South Africa despite the power supply situation in the neighboring country.
