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NewsDay

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Blackout due to Hwange plant failure

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Power utility Zesa has attributed the blackout experienced on Wednesday on the collapse of three units at Hwange Thermal Power Station. Zesa Holdings chief executive officer Josh Chifamba yesterday told NewsDay that by today, the situation would have normalised. “We had some challenges at Hwange, but now we are getting out of the hole and […]

Power utility Zesa has attributed the blackout experienced on Wednesday on the collapse of three units at Hwange Thermal Power Station.

Zesa Holdings chief executive officer Josh Chifamba yesterday told NewsDay that by today, the situation would have normalised.

“We had some challenges at Hwange, but now we are getting out of the hole and the units are coming back. On Wednesday, generation slumped to zero but we are now generating 250 megawatts (MW). We will have another unit back before end of day (yesterday) and another one tomorrow (today),” he said.

Chifamba said although the country was not getting anything from Mozambique at the moment, that had no bearing on the recent slump in supply.

“We are not getting anything from HCB (Hydro Cahora Bassa) but that has nothing to do with our payment system. It is simply an operational challenge,” he said, adding that they would only get power from HCB as soon as the latter’s operations normalised.

Zesa owes HCB about $76 million. Domestic and commercial electricity consumers owe Zesa Holdings about $550 million.

Platinum mining firms Mimosa and Zimplats recently pledged to pay about $36 million towards offsetting the debt.

Part of Zimbabwe’s power is generated at Hwange Thermal Power Station and Kariba Hydropower Station. Out of the 2 200MW the country requires on a daily basis, it only generates 1 300MW. The remainder is met through imports from Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The highly indebted power utility has embarked on a nationwide campaign to cut off supply to those people who have not paid their electricity bills. It said the blitz would encourage defaulters to pay up, which in turn would help it settle its own debts and improve service delivery.