Units 7 and 8 have a generation capacity of 300 MW.

The Government contracted Sino-Hydro to fund the expansion of Hwange in a deal worth US$1.2 billion. Minister Soda said:

We are likely to have two units decommissioned at a time (to pave way for rehabilitation) until all the units have been repaired. We are looking at restoring the capacity of all the units to 920MW upon completion.

He said the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has engaged a consultant who is already working on a detailed project report that will detail the scope of the work and “it should be ready by end of November.”

Soda said the report will pave way for the disbursement of the funds by the Exim Bank of India.

The loan from India comes when Zimbabwe is already experiencing load shedding due to frequent breakdowns at the Hwange power plant which produces an average of between 380 MW and 400MW, 40m percent below its capacity.

Last week, Zimbabwe experienced a countrywide blackout after transmission infrastructure at Alaska caught fire, resulting in the disturbance of the national transmission system.

All the power stations, except Harare, were switched off and it took almost five hours to restore the system. 

Electricity imports also went down as ESKOM, one of the suppliers, is failing to generate enough for South Africa alone.

Pindula News