Zimbabwe’s power utility, ZESA Holdings, has announced planned maintenance outages at the Hwange Power Station, raising concerns about potential power shortages across the country.
Starting March 2nd, Unit 7 will be offline for a scheduled Class B maintenance until March 29th, followed by Unit 6 undergoing statutory maintenance from March 15th to May 14th.
By Vongai Masuka
The simultaneous maintenance periods, particularly the extended outage of Unit 6, are expected to impact the nation’s power supply.
In a statement, ZESA Holdings, stated that the maintenance is crucial to ensure the units’ readiness for increased generation during the peak winter season.
“We would like to assure the nation that various strategies have been put in place to ensure stable supply during the period,” the notice read.
The utility plans to rely heavily on the Kariba Power Station, typically a peaking plant, to mitigate the supply deficit. However, ZESA cautioned that Kariba’s output would be “adjusted as and when necessary to conserve water for future use,” reads the statement.
ZESA Holdings has apologized to its customers for the anticipated inconveniences.
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