HWANGE – A diesel leak sparked a fire outbreak that disrupted power generation at Hwange Power Station on Wednesday evening, leading to unscheduled load shedding.
Fire crews battled the blaze for 40 minutes, ZESA Holdings executive chairman Sydney Gata said in a late-night statement.
“The fire broke out in the Unit 1 boiler as a result of a leak in the diesel supply line and lasted for about 40 minutes. There were no casualties arising from the fire,” Gata said.
“Although we lost 140MW leading to load shedding between 1730hrs and 2030hrs due to suspension of load on unites 2 and 5, we are in the process of firing the two units to restore power supply to the national grid.”
Combined, the units at Hwange Power Station generate 320MW of electricity.
Gata promised that regular power supply will resume on Thursday.
Energy and Power Development minister Zhemu Soda told State media that they were yet to assess the full impact of the blaze.
