HARARE – Power utility, ZESA this week warned its customers to brace for more power outages in the coming few days as engineers act to remove from the grid, Hwange Power Station’s Unit 7 for final commissioning tests.

Unit 7 was feeding an additional 300 Megawatts (MW) following its synchronisation onto the national grid March this year.

It has been undergoing various tests to ensure that by end of June, its installed capacity is maintained.

In a notice, ZESA subsidiary, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) said Unit 7 had completed the reliability run.

“We would like to advise our valued stakeholders that the Hwange Unit 7 which is still undergoing commissioning tests has successfully completed the reliability run.

“Our Engineers have taken it off the grid for evaluation of all systems in preparation for the final phase of commissioning (Performance Guarantees Test),” read the notice.

ZETDC said the process will affect the relative power stability the country has been experiencing since Unit 7’s synchronisation.

“This entails temporary removal of 300MW from the grid resulting in our customers not enjoying the general power stability that had been obtaining in the past days.

“The Unit is expected back online within the next few days. Any inconveniences are sincerely regretted.”

Zimbabweans have endured long hours of load-shedding everyday owing to continued breakdown of machinery at its power generating plants, restricted generation and the utility’s failure to pay for imports, among the reasons.

Energy and Power Development minister Soda Zhemu has also announced that Hwange Unit 8 will be synchronised onto the national grid on May 16, a development that will see a combined power production of 600MW by the two new units.

The Kariba Power Station has also improved its generation to an average of 500MW.

This comes after the government negotiated with the Zambezi River Authority to be allowed to produce power after the station was almost shut down last year due to low dam levels.

The country’s peak electricity demand is 1,700MW.

According to the Zimbabwe Power Company, as of Thursday, Kariba was producing 522MW, Hwange 320MW, and Harare was at 11MW.