Power cuts to persist: Minister
Zimbabweans will endure darker days as the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company has increased power cuts countrywide.
“This is due to depressed generation on the grid coupled with increased electricity demand as a result of increased economic activities,” the company said.
The increased load-shedding will be in effect until at least Friday.
“Our engineers are working to ensure full restoration of service.”
Zimbabwe is experiencing daily power cuts of up to 13 hours. Recently, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said there was no need for individual arrangements by corporates to secure power imports. The country is trying to secure power import arrangements with Zambia and Mozambique to ease the situation.
Harare, the nation’s capital, is already experiencing power outages of as long as 10 hours a day because of lower output from its main electricity plants. The country is also facing higher demand for energy, particularly from mining companies as they ramp up output, Mnangagwa said in July.
He could not answer , but darker days lay ahead
In July Energy Minister, Soda Zhemu failed to give specific timelines when the power cuts would be eased.
“We would not know these interventions because currently we are working on aged equipment. We can only give assurance when Hwange Power Station is up and running, that is Unit 7 and Unit 8. That is when we will have self-sufficiency from internal generation.”
He added; “… on expansion of the power station, there are two units which will be coming through; one by the end of this year, that is unit 7 which will be producing 300 megawatts. “We will also be having another unit, unit 8 coming through in the first quarter of 2023. We will also see the rehabilitation of Hwange power station which is now very old.
“The intention is to bring it back to its installed capacity of 900 megawatts.”
TheNewsReportLive/TimesLive
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