Zim Decommissioning Units To Repair & Restore Capacity To 920 MW

The Zimbabwe government has been applauded for its move to decommission Units two at a time paving way for rehabilitation until all units have been repaired in order to restore the units to full capacity of 920 MW upon completion. This has been seen as the only “viable option” to decommission the existing units as it has become clear that the plant can no longer be managed. An energy expert cited that Zimbabwe can do life extension of the plant including complete overhauls.

Minister of Energy Soda Zhemu said, “We are likely to have two units decommissioned at a time (to pave way for rehabilitation) until all the units have been repaired,”
Soda added that, “We are looking at restoring the capacity of all the units to 920 MW upon completion.”

The Minister of Energy put hands on deck after Unit 8 tripped on 20 December 2022 due to GTx 8 fault and is being replaced. Unit 6 was taken out on December 16 2022 for an annual overhaul and machine cooling water pipework replacement. Kariba dam level has slightly improved to 13,75 percent. In terms of small power stations, Munyati and Bulawayo are currently switched off for boiler maintenance. From Independent Power Producers, ZXIN is churning out 39MW, Green Fuel; 0MW, Hippo Valley Estates; 0MW, Tsanga; 7MW and Pungwe Hydro; 21MW. Zimbabwe is importing 50MW from Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa; 180MW from Eskom, between 130-200MW from Electricidade de Moçambique and 1 00MW Zambia’s stateowned power utility Zesco. The country is exporting up to 80MW.

The Zimbabwe Power Company ZPC is in the process of commissioning Hwange unit 7, which will churn out 300 MW. Unit eight will be switched on later this year and will produce the same amount of electricity. Kariba hydroelectric plant is currently producing between 270–475MW with four units (350MW on average). Unit 4 was taken out on July 20 2022 due to a damaged turbine runner. Generator 1 was switched off on February 2 2023 for turbine runner inspection. The inspections have been completed and the unit has been placed on annual maintenance.