HARARE – Electricity generation has resumed at the coal-powered Hwange Power Station, slightly easing power cuts lasting up to five hours daily which have been experienced since Wednesday.
Hwange has a design capacity of 920 MW but has been generating around 360 MW due to ageing equipment.
A technical fault at the power station on Tuesday night saw it losing 368 megawatts.
On Saturday, Hwange was generating 174 MW. Added to Kariba Hydro Power Station’s 1,023 MW and Munyati’s 13 MW, Zimbabwe’s total power generation stood at 1,210 MW – still below the 1,500 MW that the country needs, according to official data.
Zimbabwe has in the past experienced deep power cuts lasting up to 18 hours due to drought and ageing equipment at its power plants.
The government contracted China’s Sinohydro to add two units of 300 MW each at Hwange, which are expected to come on stream next year.
