Energy and Power Development Minister, Soda Zhemu, on Friday, said that power supplies would improve in the coming days when normal generation at Hwange Thermal Power Station is expected to have been restored.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) is currently producing 270 megawatts (MW) from Hwange against an installed capacity of over 800 MW.
Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the Hwange units 7 and 8 expansion project yesterday, Zhemu said:
Three units are currently in service and doing between 260 and 270MW, which is actually inadequate considering the power demands in the country.
So far, we are expecting unit 5 to be back on service anytime once diesel is made available, which we heard is on its way.
In the next 2-3 days unit 5 will be back to service. Once that unit is back online then the current power outages will be a thing of the past.
Yes, we know there is work going on at units 3 and 6 and arrangements to have the experts coming back into the country.
Zimbabwe has been facing intermittent power cuts over the past few weeks as a result of the depressed generation mainly at Hwange due to ageing equipment that is overdue for service.
With Hwange generating 270 megawatts, Kariba Hydro producing 890 megawatts and an average of 200 megawatts in imports, against a national demand of 2 200MW, the country has a considerable shortfall.