Hwange Power Station’s new Unit 7 at full throttle

The Hwange Power Station’s new Unit 7, which was synchronised with the national grid on March 20, achieved full generation capacity of 335 MW on Thursday.

This was revealed by the contractor PowerChina on Friday.

“Output of Hwange Unit 7 first achieved full capacity of 335MW at 9.27am (on) March 30,” said PowerChina on Twitter.

Zimbabwe has for years been contending with power cuts due to prolonged droughts and antiquated electricity generating equipment.

Water levels behind Zimbabwe’s main hydropower dam, which produces nearly 70% of the nation’s electricity, have been dropping to lower levels resulting in the country’s inability to reliably generate enough power.

This forced the power utility, thus the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to impose rolling blackouts that last for up to 20 hours per day.

Energy Minister Soda Zhemu recently announced the power utility’s inability to publish loadshedding timetable.

There has been an outcry from members of the public who have been demanding ZESA to issue a load-shedding timetable which will inform citizens and help them plan accordingly.

However, the Energy Minister said it is difficult to come up with a schedule that will be followed with discipline as power generation in the country was inconsistent due to ageing equipment.

Zwnews