Zimbabwe electricity generation falls below 1 000MW

Zimbabwe’s electricity generation now stands at 984 megawatts after all power stations experienced system disturbances which saw Hwange Thermal Power producing electricity half of its installed capacity of 920MW, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has said.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing intensified countrywide power outages since last week due to problems on the national grid and power utility said in a statement that all five power stations were enduring system disturbances.

These disturbances come after the country’s main electricity plant, Kariba Hydro, had its output capped at 475 MW, down from recent winter peak of 705MW due to lower dam water levels.

In an update today, ZPC indicated that Hwange Thermal Power, the second largest station, was producing 414MW against an installed capacity of 920MW.

Kariba Power Station was generating 500MW against an installed capacity of 750MW after unit 5 was switched off for water conservation.

Harare, Bulawayo and Manyati stations were producing a combined electricity capacity of 70MW.

“At Hwange, Unit 1 was taken out of service ….for internal boiler tube leak repairs. Works were completed but on attempting to return to service, the machine tripled on rotor earth fault protection. The rotor was dried and upon attempting to bring the unit back to service on 16/08/15..,the rotor earth fault alarm came up again. As from 19/08/15, the unit is now on statutory maintenance and excitation upgrade that will last for 5 weeks,” the company said.

At Harare Power Station, the company said station 2 was shut down and was now awaiting the repowering project to replace the boiler technology.

At Munyati, boiler 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 were under maintenance after systems breakdown.

The thermal power stations – Harare, Munyati and Bulawayo are currently producing 30MW, 22MW and 18MW respectively. This is against installed capacity of 75MW, 100MW and 90MW.- The Source

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