Zimbabwe is going to launch a new unit at its Hwange coal-fired power plant by March in order to provide relief to the country's citizens, who have been hit by frequent blackouts in recent months, Deputy Energy Minister Magna Mudyiwa said.
The deputy minister stated that the new unit at the Hwange power plant is expected to increase the country's installed electricity generation capacity by more than 14% to 2,400 megawatts (MW). Another new unit will be commissioned soon after; however, she didn't provide any details or specific information as to the timeline.
The Hwange power plant, located in the northwestern part of Zimbabwe, is the country's largest coal-fired power station with 920MW installed capacity, and is comprised of six units. All of the units were commissioned in the 1980s. According to the government owned power entity the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), it is the 14th largest thermal station in the Southern Africa region and generates about 40% of the country’s electricity needs.
The deputy minister noted that less than half of the country's population has access to electricity, while the nation faces a significant deficit in terms of electricity generation, with power cuts lasting as long as 18 hours in recent days.
"We have the capacity to generate up to 2100 megawatts from our power sources but at the moment we're generating far less than that, about 1000MW [...].But our demand for electricity is about 1700MW so we have a serious deficit," she said.
Zimbabwe has recently seen a decline in hydropower generation due to a decrease in water levels in Lake Kariba, which is located along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The drop in the water level in the Lake, which is the main hydropower source for both countries, is largely attributed to continuous droughts with low rainfall and excessive use of water for power generation. This has forced the Southern African states to curtail power supply and introduce power rationing. At the same time, the efficiency of decades-old coal-fired utilities has decreased sharply over time, while demand for electricity has surged.
Flood gates on the Kariba Dam wall between Zimbabwe and Zambia open ceremonially on February 20, 2015 after the two neighbors signed $294 million in deals with international investors.
© AFP 2023 / JEKESAI NJIKIZANA
As of February 8, the Kariba South Power Station generated 318MW of power, lower than the 384MW produced at the Hwange Thermal Power Station.
The country also has several other smaller thermal power stations including Harare, Bulawayo, and Munyati, among which only the latter was on stream, generating 17MW of power. This means that total local power generation was 719MW, falling short of the average daily demand of approximately 2,000MW. According to the ZPC, the failure of the stations to generate power at the installed capacity levels is connected with challenges at the plants, as well as with limited coal supplies. Part of the deficit, however, is offset by imports from regional neighbors, including Zambia and Mozambique.