Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 first achieved a full capacity output of 335MW at 9:27 AM on Thursday 30th March 2023.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) managed to synchronise the first of two generators on Unit 7 into the national grid on Monday, 20 March after failing to do so several times.
The two generators make up the Hwange Thermal Power Station Unit 7 and 8 Expansion Project being installed under a US$1.4 billion facility from China Eximbank.
Soon after the successful synchronisation of Unit 7 into the national grid, ZPC said power will be progressively fed into the grid until it reaches 300MW.
However, captains of industry said Unit 7 will not meaningfully end the current electricity challenges bedeviling the economy.
Zimbabwe has a national electricity peak demand of between 1 700 and 2 200 depending on the season.
On 31 March 2023, ZPC was generating a total of 678MW, with Hwange producing 311, Kariba, 350, and Munyati 17. Harare and Bulawayo were generating zero.
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Hwange Unit 7 Achieves 335MW Full Capacity Output

Captains of industry say the successful synchronisation of Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 with a generation capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) with the national grid will not meaningfully end the current electricity challenges bedeviling the economy.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Kurai Matsheza on Wednesday told <a href="https://businesstimes.co.zw/hwange-deal-wont-rid-zim-of-power-crisis/">Business Times</a> that the hope is that the new unit will operate at full capacity consistently. Said Matsheza:
<blockquote>
We hope that it will be on the grid on a sustainable basis and hopefully, it will operate at the capacity of 300MW and if that stands a test of time, this will assist industry and other sectors of the economy though it will not eliminate the power challenges completely.
</blockquote>
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Mike Kamungeremu said the development is welcome. He said:
<blockquote>
We hope that Unit 8 will come soon and that will be commendable. We hope that may result in load shedding hours reduced as right now it is not sustainable for businesses to run for hours as the cost is too huge resulting in some firms closing.
All the same, we are happy with the development, though we need more power.
</blockquote>
<h2>Hwange Unit 7</h2>
Unit 7 was successfully synchronised with the national grid and started feeding electricity on Monday, 20 March.
The synchronisation sought to establish if the electricity being generated from Unit 7 would flow into the national grid.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) said that power from Unit 7 will be progressively fed into the grid until it reaches 300MW.
ZPC said it expects the second 300MW thermal unit (unit 8) to start generating power in October.
<h2>Depressed Power Generation</h2>
According to power generation statistics, ZESA ‘s five power stations in Kariba, Hwange, Bulawayo, Munyati and Harare on Wednesday collectively produced 361MW against a national demand of 1 800MW.
Hwange Thermal Power Station has the capacity to generate 1 220MW, while Kariba South Hydroelectric Power Plant has the capacity to generate 1 050MW.
On Friday, 24 March, Hwange was generating 530MW, Kariba, 350MW, and Munyati, 18MW to give a total of 898MW. Harare and Bulawayo were not generating anything.
<h2>ZESA Loadshedding, Debts</h2>
To cover for the shortfall, ZESA is load-shedding consumers as well as importing from South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia.
A <a href="https://www.263chat.com/zambia-to-switch-off-zim-over-power-supply-debt/">recent report</a> claimed that Zambia’s power utility ZESCO Limited was set to disconnect supply to Zimbabwe on 14 March over non-payment of US$10.7 million debt for the month of February and March.
ZETDC commercial service director Gift Ndhlovu was recently quoted as saying the overall debt to regional suppliers has increased to over US$100.
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Hwange Unit 7 Will Not End Zimbabwe's Power Crisis

The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) late on Monday said the new 300 megawatts (MW) generating unit at Hwange Thermal Power Station started feeding electricity into the national grid.
Zimbabwe is expanding the 920MW Hwange power station by adding two 300MW units (7 &amp; 8) at a cost of US$1.4 billion, with 85% of the funding coming from China, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zimbabwes-new-300-mw-coal-fired-plant-starts-feeding-into-grid-2023-03-21/">reported Reuters</a>.
Unit 7, the first of the two units built by China’s Sinohydro, was successfully synchronised into the national grid on Monday evening. A short statement released by ZPC yesterday reads:
<blockquote>
The Hwange Expansion Project’s Unit 7 was successfully synchronised today at 1826hrs.
Power will be progressively fed into the grid until it reaches 300MW.
</blockquote>
The ZPC has said it expects the second 300MW thermal unit (unit 8) to start generating power in October.
On Tuesday, 21 March, ZPC was generating a paltry 522MW from two out of five power stations.
Hwange and Kariba were generating 323MW and 199MW respectively, while Munyati, Bulawayo, and Harare were producing zero.
Zimbabwe requires 1 700MW in Summer to end load shedding.
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Hwange Unit 7 Power Generation Set For Gradual Increase To 300MW Capacity - ZESA

The Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 was successfully synchronised with the national grid and started feeding electricity on Monday, 20 March.
<a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/historic-moment-as-unit-7-is-synchronised-successfully/">The Chronicle</a> reported that the synchronisation, which was done at 6.25 PM, sought to establish if the electricity being generated from Unit 7 would flow into the national grid.
In 1984 four engineers were electrocuted at Hwange Power Station when they synchronised a system that was not yet ready.
Yesterday, the process was done without any complications and after 20 minutes of the synchronisation, 41MW of electricity were being fed into the grid.
It was hoped that up to 100MW would be fed into the grid from Unit 7 later on Monday.
Six hours from the time the synchronisation started, the engineers were going to switch off Unit 7 and conduct checks on the system.
The checks would be conducted for 12 hours, and thereafter, Unit 7 would be brought back onto the grid and be allowed to generate electricity again.
However, it will take time for Unit 7 to achieve the installed capacity of 300MW and expectations are that this will be attained by June this year.
The project manager, Engineer Forbes Chanakira, a University of Zimbabwe graduate, turns 41 next Monday.
ZESA Holdings executive chairman Sydney Gata, who was at the power plant yesterday to witness the synchronisation, likened the amount of work put into commissioning a thermal power station to an “open heart surgery”. Said Gata:
<blockquote>
The synchronisation has been successful and I am happy. As ZESA we are proud of this event.
We can gladly say we have a viable investment here. The rest of the tests can now be concluded while the unit is now generating electricity and soon we shall be enjoying more electricity.
The plant was well-designed and well-constructed. Today we have been able to synchronise it with the national grid.
I pay tribute to the project manager Engineer Forbes Chanakira and a team of nearly 200 young engineers for a job well done.
</blockquote>
Before the expansion project, Hwange Thermal Power Station had an installed capacity of 920MW.
The addition of 600MW from Units 7 and 8 will take the installed capacity to 1 520MW.
National Coordinator responsible for programmes and projects in the Office of the President and Cabinet Amos Marawa, who was also present during the synchronisation, said ZESA should now start rehabilitating the old six units to ensure they generate more electricity.
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Hwange Power Station Unit 7 Synchronised Successfully

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Gloria Magombo on Tuesday said the commissioning of two new units at Hwange Thermal Power Station will take time.
These two new units will add 600MW to the national grid, but it may not happen soon.
Addressing the media after a Cabinet meeting in Harare yesterday, Magombo said:
<blockquote>
Commissioning of a plant is not an event, it’s a process. When we talk about commissioning Hwange 7, each part has to be commissioned independently and certified as working 100%, before they move on to the next one.
If there’s something not working properly, they have to stop, look at it, and correct it. As they do that, they look at the critical path in terms of when they can put that unit on the grid.
</blockquote>
She said the other part of commissioning is the construction of transmission power lines including a 400km line from Hwange to Bulawayo’s Insukamini sub-station.
Watch the video below for more:
<div>
<video controls="controls" height="356" preload="metadata" width="640"><a href="https://t792ae.c2.acecdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Gloria-Magombo.mp4">https://t792ae.c2.acecdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Gloria-Magombo.mp4</a></video></div>
Meanwhile, On Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) was generating only 494MW from its five power stations located in Bulawayo, Munyati, Harare, Hwange and Kariba.
On the same day, Zimbabwe was importing 50MW from Mozambique’s HCB, up to 169MW from ESKOM, 100MW from Zambia’s ZESCO, and 10MW from EDM in Mozambique.
Magombo said the country has agreed with EDM to increase supplies to 50MW, while there is an agreement for a further 150MW from Mozambique. | <a href="https://newzwire.live/govts-latest-energy-update-there-is-bad-news-and-slightly-less-bad-news/">newZWire</a>

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