Faults at Power Stations Trigger countrywide blackout | The Herald

via Faults at Power Stations Trigger countrywide blackout | The Herald May 30, 2014

Electricity supplies were disrupted throughout the country yesterday following faults experienced at the country’s three major power stations. Zesa Holdings said in a statement that the power stations affected were Kariba Hydro-Power Station, Hwange Power Station and Harare Power Station. The cause of the power failure was yet to be ascertained, although Zesa Holdings spokesperson Mr Fullard Gwasira said in a statement that it was caused by “a power system disturbance that originated from outside the country’s borders”.

He said electricity distribution was affected throughout the country.

Technicians were battling to restore normal supplies by yesterday and many areas were expected to receive normal supplies soon.

Only Bulawayo and Munyati thermal power stations were not affected by the technical fault, but they do not have capacity to sufficiently power the country.

Hwange Power Station has the installed capacity of 920 mega watts to the national grid, while Kariba Hydro-Power Station can provide 750 mega watts, with Harare Power Station managing only 90 mega watts.

Zesa Holdings’ subsidiary, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company, has been carrying out planned shutdowns to allow allow maintenance work in most of parts of the country.

The situation has been worsened by the winter season where there is huge demand for electricity.

Areas in Masvingo, Harare and Manicaland provinces were recently affected by such a shutdown.

Zimbabwe affords only 1 300 megawatts of power against a demand of 2 200 megawatts during the peak season like winter.

Zesa Holdings has since embarked on massive power blackouts throughout the country to help serve electricity.