Wenslus Murape
Sunday Mail Reporter
ZIMBABWE has reduced power exports to neighbouring countries to boost local supplies, in a development that has significantly eased load-shedding over the past two weeks.
This comes as power generation has also improved considerably at the Hwange Thermal Power Station, where newly commissioned Units 7 and 8, as well as the six older units, have been operating at peak levels. As a result, most residential areas have been experiencing over 18 hours of uninterrupted electricity supply daily in recent weeks.
Throughout last week, Hwange was consistently churning out around 1 000 megawatts (MW), complemented by the Kariba South Hydro Power Station, which was producing an average of 125MW, while independent power producers were feeding an average of 50MW to the national grid.
The power supply situation is expected to improve further as most industries begin annual shutdowns for the festive season starting this Friday, reducing demand on the national grid.
Despite the current stability, the authorities remain cautious about the reliability of Hwange’s older units, which are vulnerable to unexpected breakdowns that could disrupt power supplies.
Briefing The Sunday Mail on the latest developments, Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo said: “Units 7 and 8 are consistent performers and over the past few days, Units 1 to 6 have been performing well, leading to decreased load-shedding. However, these older units are prone to frequent breakdowns.
We have, however, curtailed our power exports in order to reduce load-shedding. We used to export 254MW. However, we have reduced that to 110MW, and this has helped reduce load-shedding.”
Ms Penelope Nyakura, a Borrowdale resident, said there was limited load-shedding in her suburb.
She said: “We are appreciative of the Government’s efforts in trying to provide electricity at critical times.”
Mr Wisdom Mudimu from Borrowdale West added: “We have had no challenges with electricity in our area, though there are outages here and there. We appreciate how the power utility is engaging with us to redress all issues that arise when there is a fault.”
