Staff Reporter

There is a significant improvement in power supply nationwide following the synchronization of Hwange Thermal Power Station's newly built power kilns, Unit 7 and 8, to the national grid.

A contact who spoke to this publication revealed that the new Units were connected to the national grid on 7 June 2023, indicating that to date the units were contributing 429 Megawatts.

“The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) is working tirelessly to improve the nation`s power supply. Hwange Unit 7 and 8 are now functional and they were connected to the national grid on 7 June 2023. Unit  8 was synchronized on 7 June 2023 and it is now generating 94MW. Meanwhile, Unit 7 is still producing at its peak and as at 8 June 2023, it was producing 335MW,” said the contact.

The contact further revealed that the peak power supply as on 8 June stood at 1 760MW whilst power supply generated in the country was 1 550MW. He stated that the remaining 210MW was imported from Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB), ESKOM, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) and Electricidade De Mocambique (EDM). He further revealed that Hwange old plants, Unit 1, 2 and 3 were producing a combined total of 225MW.

Meanwhile, the contact revealed that Kariba Power Station was producing 900MW from seven units, namely, Unit1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 as at 8 June 2023. He further stated that an additional of 44MW was being generated by the Zimbabwe Zhongxin Electrical Energy (ZZEE) together with an array of mini-hydro power plants. A total 38MW of the 44MW power output was being generated by ZZEE.

Economic analysts have applauded the positive development alluding that the connection of Hwange Unit 7 and 8 would overcome significant challenges affecting the journey towards digitizing and transforming the economy pursuant to the attainment of an upper middle income economy.