Story by Memory Chamisa
COMPLETION of the combined 600 megawatt Hwange Unit 7 and 8 expansion project is set to ease the current power outages being experienced across the country.
According to the latest from the national power utility, ZESA Holdings, tests runs and technical works at the much awaited Hwange Unit 7 and 8 project are well on course.
The past weeks have witnessed power outages due to the rise in demand for supply of electricity.
In an interview with ZBC News this Thursday, ZESA General Manager- Stakeholder Relations Mr George Manyaya revealed they were on course to meet the set targets for the commissioning of Hwange Unit 7 and 8.
“The country has been facing a deficit in power supply owing to the breakdowns to our power stations and Zimbabwe’s capacity to pay for imports. However, there have been a lot of technical works being carried out at Hwange 7 and 8 expansion project which is set to ease the demand supply gap and we’re on course to meet the targets that were communicated by the government last week in parliament and the modalities are in place,” he said.
The setting up of the two power units conforms to world standards as confirmed by the test results.
“The next few days we will be making an announcement to the nation. We applaud all stakeholders involved in ensuring the technical procedures are done in the correct manner. Commissioning is a delicate manner and must be done in a prudent way so that it allows for all the tests to be done. And normally technical tests takes about six weeks and from December we have been conducting test runs and from the results we have received it has been confirmed that the Hwange 7 and 8 has been well built and we’re conforming to world class standards,” he added.
The Hwange Unit 7 and 8 expansion project is set to add a combined 600 megawatts to the national grid.
The project is also one of the success stories of the Second Republic as the nation targets an upper middle income society by 2030.
