Staff Reporter

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has increased its power supply, significantly reducing load shedding to manageable levels.

This was revealed by a contact within the ZETDC, who indicated that the reduction in load shedding is credited to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between ZETDC and Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) which saw Zimbabwe manage to prepay for 100MW.

“The utility managed to do a pre-payment of US$6.5 million, enough to secure a 100MW which will last the duration from 01 August to 31 August 2022

“This will go a long way in improving electricity supplies and reduce load shedding to manageable levels this winter,” contact said.

Contact added that the Independent Power Producers (IPP) have reliably been contributing 52MW to the national grid.

“The IPPs are doing fairly well and contributing constantly to the national grid. Pungwe A, B, and C are producing 7MW, Tsanga 1 MW, Hippo Valley 5MW and ZZEE 39MW to make a total contribution of 52MW to the National Grid,” said the Contact.

Meanwhile, Hwange Thermal Power Station (HTPS) is currently generating 249MW from Units 1, 2, 3 and 4; Kariba South Power Station (KSPS) is generating 873MW while smaller thermal power stations, Munyati, Harare and Bulawayo are generating 12MW, 13MW and 24MW respectively.  The national power generation this winter stands at 1171MW against a national winter demand of 1600MW for electricity.