via Coal mining concerns threaten electricity generation at Hwange | The Herald November 23, 2015
HWANGE Power Station (HPS) experiences a deficit of 3 000 tonnes of coal every day as coal miners are failing to supply the adequate feedstock citing capitalisation concerns. HPS consumes 8 000 tonnes of coal daily but miners have only managed to supply about 3 500 tonnes leaving power generation under threat. Hwange Power Station general manager Mr Arnold Chivurayise confirmed the situation during a tour made by Parliamentarians who were assessing the operations of the country’s power plants last week.
“We consume an average of 8 000 tonnes of coal a day, but we’ve challenges with our miners, who are mainly complaining about capitalising their operations. “We currently get an average of 3 500 tones. Every day, we are accumulating a deficit of 3 000 tones and this is a threat to electricity generation,” said Mr Chivurayise.
Situated in the North Western part of Zimbabwe, Hwange Power Station is the largest coal-fired power station with 920Megawatts installed capacity which comprises of 4×120 Megawatt and 2×220 Megawatt units. It is the 14th largest thermal station in Southern Africa.
“Traditionally, we were running with stockpile reserves of 45 days, but we are currently running on 20 days. We are getting most of the coal from Makomo Resources, out of the three miners who supply us,” said Mr Chivurayise. On expansion, Mr Chivurayise said the company signed a $1,5 billion contract with Sinohydro Ltd, last year but to date $3 million has been pooled for initial works.
The deal, which still needs full financial cover, will see Sinohydro Corp add 600 MW of electricity at the Hwange plant as well as a transmission line. Mr Chivurayise said Sinohydro has done the geo technical studies and the Zimbabwe Power Company is working towards financial closure before end of January 2016. Hwange Power station operates as a base load station, with its availability averaging 80 percent and a plant load factor of 65 percent.
The station designs largely represent technologies of the late 1960s and some of the equipment such as the boiler controls has had to be replaced with modern digital process controls.
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