Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) Acting Chief Executive Officer Eddington Mazambani, yesterday, told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy that the Southern African region may not be able to end load shedding in Zimbabwe as there is already a deficit within the territory.
Zimbabwe, which is currently going for up to 18 hours of load shedding, has been negotiating with regional energy distributors to help alleviate the energy deficit.
Mazambani said, “We might still have to load shed, but our load shedding time will then be reduced from the current levels because power becomes available in South Africa when they (SA) are off-peak.”
The CEO went on to say that Zimbabwe is not accessing power to the levels wanted due money owed to South Africa.
ZERA’s acting boss speaking on the current status of Hwange thermal power station said the power plant is on constant breakdown due to ageing equipment.
The CEO revealed that upgrading such an energy plant would cost a lot of money for Zimbabwe.
“We have got 6 units (at Hwange Power Station), currently we are operating at 5 and at times we come down to 3,” Mazambani said.
“The sixth unit is on repair, we expect it to be back in September to give us 150 megawatts.” (sic)
Zimbabwe is also weighing in to engage Cahora Bassa to aid power energy in Zimbabwe.
“The only way out for the country is to import power, but chair do we have sufficient foreign currency as a country to sustain importation of power to cover the daily gap which we have,” Mazambani said.