Government has urgently intervened after a power crisis in the last few weeks resulted in the loss of electricity generation capacity at Hwange Thermal Power Station.
While the fault experienced at Hwange Thermal Power Station resulted in a significant loss of electricity on the national grid, quick interventions have resulted in a positive outcome.
Energy and Power Development Minister, Honourable July Moyo,who toured the power station this Thursday, witnessed the quick intervention which has seen five units coming back online.
“The installed capacity here for producing coal is bigger than any where else, bigger than Kariba. Hwange Seven and Eight produce 700 megawatts and the other units if working properly should have an installed capacity of 950MW. We had recent challenges where there was an incident which resulted in ZESA shutting all the turbines, one to six was a concern and I therefore wanted to see what is happening in lighting up the one to four which they have done and yesterday they were switching on number six,” he said.
The country has invested heavily in power generation to ensure energy sufficiency. The coming on board of Hwange Unit seven and eight which is generating 700 megawatts has boosted the national power supply.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are also working on the Batoka Hydro Power Project whose long-term benefit is to boost energy supply for the two countries.
Meanwhile, Minister Moyo also revealed that while coal remains critical in power generation, government continues to work with independent power producers to ensure the harnessing of renewable energy.
