ZESA Experiences Two Major Faults On Transmission Grid
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) says it has experienced two faults on the grid which restricted power supply to parts of eastern Harare and Manicaland.
In a statement, ZETDC also warned its customers of the “generally depressed” power generation as the water level at Kariba Dam has dropped to 12% and Hwange Unit 8 is offline for routine maintenance. It said:
ZESA Holdings would like to advise its valued Customers on two major faults on the transmission grid which occurred on the 12th of December, one on the Zimbabwe Grid and another one on the Mozambique EDM Grid as follows:
FAULT ON ZESA GRID
On 12 December 2023, a transmission tower collapsed at Ingwe Farm, which is on 330kV line between Warren and Dema Substation.
This line is critical for maintaining the stability of the power system. The outage of this critical line led to the loss of power to Dema and Orange Grove Substation, which supply power to Eastern parts of Harare, Manicaland and surrounding areas.
Some Customers have been restored using the Mozambique Songo- Bindura corridor, supplying a total of 220MW.
FAULT ON MOZAMBIQUE EDM GRID
On 13 December, the electricity supply was lost due to a fault on the Mozambique Transmission Grid which connects to Zimbabwe through Bindura.
The fault caused a limitation on the power system and Mozambique’s EDM has limited loading of the line to only 60MW on the affected area.
This has resulted in a substantial number of our Customers being affected pending the restoration of the fault on the ZESA Grid- Warren Dema Line.
Our technical teams are working round the clock to ensure that these faults are rectified at the earliest convenience to enable restoration.
The national grid is generally depressed in terms of generation, largely due to the depressed availability of water at Kariba where we have been restricted to generating a daily average of 300MW instead of the maximum capacity of 1050MW. The water lake level currently stands at 11.84%.
Furthermore, as previously updated, the Hwange Unit 7 returned to service on 30 November after successfully undergoing a routine C- Type maintenance.
Unit 7 and Unit 8 ran concurrently from 1 – 8 December 2023 in preparation for the Unit 8 routine C-Check which commenced on the 8th of December 2023.
Indications so far point to the fact that the plants have been built to world-class standards.
ZETDC said that it will continue to provide progress updates and the mitigation measures that have been put in place.
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