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Nationwide power cuts on increase in Zimbabwe
Dumisani Muleya, Business Day (SA)
June 07, 2006

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/article.aspx?ID=BD4A212040

ZIMBABWE again has been hit by a wave of nationwide power outages in winter as the struggling state-owned electricity utility increasingly fails to ensure reliable supplies.

Reports from Zambia said yesterday that that country’s recent countrywide blackout was related to Zimbabwe’s supply system.

Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and other towns have for the past few nights been plunged into darkness as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) cuts power in the face of continued shortages and distribution problems.

Plush suburbs in Harare such as Borrowdale and Glen Lorne and areas like Hillside and Hatfield, as well as teeming townships on the outskirts of the city, have been without power the past few days.

Residents have been complaining of the increased disruptions due to electricity shortages.

Football fans have been protesting the loudest about power cuts ahead of the opening of the World Cup tournament in Germany on Friday.

Companies are also complaining of disruptions as a result of the outages.

The Combined Harare Residents’ Association said that the power cuts showed government had failed to provide basic social services. Education, health, transport, and water and electricity supply are near collapse as the economy disintegrates.

Zesa said on Monday the worsening power shortages were due to "reduced electricity generation capacity, low tariffs, distribution problems and regional shortages".

Zimbabwe has suffered widespread power cuts, despite recently renewing its supply contracts with SA, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zesa signed an agreement with Eskom in February to extend its power supply contract to March 31 next year. The agreement allows Zesa to import up to 450MW from SA.

The Zimbabwean utility also extended its contracts with HCB of Mozambique, to buy about 200MW, Snel of Congo to secure 100MW and Zesco of Zambia to get about 300MW until next year and up to 450MW between 2008 and 2010.

This means Zimbabwe is able to import a maximum of 750MW from the region.

Zesa generates about 1440MW, with Kariba providing 750MW, Hwange contributing 590MW and small thermal power stations adding 100MW to the national grid.

Imports account for 650MW, representing 32% of Zimbabwe’s electricity requirements. The country’s peak electricity demand has increased to more than 2600MW, from 2000MW, while the import bill has ballooned from $50000 to $6m a month.

Zesa owes foreign creditors a staggering $330m, making it technically insolvent. The crisis is compounded by shortages of foreign currency and spare parts.

A preliminary report by the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (Zesco) says a nationwide blackout in the country on Sunday afternoon was caused by a major fault at Kariba South power station on the Zimbabwean grid.

Zesco’s acting MD, Musonda Chibulu, said that because of the magnitude of the fault and the interconnection of the Zimbabwean and Zambian grids, the fault affected the main system in Zambia.

Zambia on Sunday afternoon experienced a total electricity outage for more than two hours and businesses that depend on electricity came to a standstill, said Xinhau news agency.

In December last year, Zambia experienced a similar blackout caused by a system failure at Kariba North power station.

Chibulu was quoted in yesterday’s Zambia Daily Mail as saying the failure on the Zimbabwean side resulted in the tripping of the Kariba North power station and high voltage transmission lines from the power station to the capital, Lusaka.

"The tripping is a design protection measure to avoid damage to the generation and transmission equipment," said Chibulu.

He said that after Kariba North power station went off, Kafue Gorge power station and part of Victoria Falls power station also tripped because they could not contain the load. With Bloomberg

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