Hwange facing power depression in third-day in a r...

Hwange facing power depression in third-day in a roll

Oscar J Jeke

Zim Now Reporter

Zimbabwe’s biggest power station, Hwange is facing a power generation depression in the past three days as compared to the last weeks, a development that has worsened power supply affecting more households and businesses.

The slump in generation comes at the back of a recent increase at the plant, that had seen the station return to generating 1 gigawatt reaching an optimum of 1099MW, which now has decreased to an average of 864MW, showing a gap of at least 235MW.

The development has added to the already inoperable business environment where businesses incur fuel costs for backup generators, with retailer, Pick n Paya serving as evidence to the effects of power shortages, having incurred over US$3 million in fuel costs during the past year, an unsustainable disadvantage in an economy that is largely informal.

Government has, however, sought investments to curb the rising power shortages, with a number of investments being lined up to increase generation of power at existing stations, while also ventures into renewable energy is another exploit that government is exploring.

Energy and Power development minister, Edgar Moyo highlighted government's willingness to end power shortages while availing an Indian investment of US$310 million towards refurbishing and boosting of Hwange Power Plant stages I and II that will increase their capacity from 400MW to 840MW.

At its full capacity, Hwange Power Station can generate over 2000MW, which is the current peak demand in Zimbabwe, while with the help of Kariba and other IPPs, Zimbabwe can export electricity for revenue.