ZESA Secures US$12m Cushion to Curb Festive-Season Power Cuts

By Anyway Yotamu

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has secured a US$12 million facility to boost electricity imports from the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in a move set to minimise domestic power blackouts during the 2025 festive season.

This development comes as the power utility is set to undertake a 35-day maintenance exercise on Units 7 and 8 at the Hwange Thermal Power Station in Matabeleland North Province.

The scheduled maintenance, which begins this week is set to retool and give reliability of power generation at the assets but will temporarily remove a significant chunk of capacity from the national grid.

ZESA Holdings acting group Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Cletus Nyachowe told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development chaired by Kuwadzana East lawmaker, Chalton Hwende in Hwange on Saturday.

Nyachowe said the measures are designed to cushion consumers from prolonged power outages.

“What we have also done is to put together a fund, some US$12 million and we will use this, you know, we have got the Southern African Power Pool that covers southern countries but is based in Harare. So on this Power Pool, energy is traded. And we will be buying energy on the day ahead market.

“It’s like a stock exchange. You bid for energy that you want tomorrow and when you get it your deductions are made from your account and then you schedule the dispatch. We will be playing on the day ahead market and on the week ahead market to buy energy so that we reduce the amount of load shedding,” Nyachowe told legislators.

The focus of the current maintenance Hwange Units 7 and 8 are not ordinary generators.

Commissioned in 2023, the two 300-megawatt units have been the workhorses of the country’s electricity supply forming the bedrock of the national grid and providing more than 50 percent of baseload power which is more reliable than hydro-generation susceptible to droughts.

A Class C maintenance is a major overhaul involving comprehensive inspection, repair and replacement of key components to restore the unit to its original design performance and ensure continued operational integrity.

Failure to carry out such maintenance could lead to prolonged, catastrophic outages experts warn.

Unit 8 is the first to undergo this intensive process which begins this week and is scheduled to last 35 days, said engineers. Upon completion, Unit 7 will be taken offline for its own Class C maintenance with sequential scheduling designed to minimise the impact on national supply.

Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) Acting Managing Director, Fannie Mavhondo assured MPs that during the maintenance of Units 8 and 7 an additional 120 MW will be generated from Kariba Power Station to help meet the nation demand until the end of the year.

Mavhondo added that the timing of the outages is strategic, coinciding with the traditional dip in electricity demand over the festive season as several industries scale down operations.

The new units at Hwange, once fully operational are expected to add a transformative 600MW to the grid while planned solar projects will diversify the energy mix and enhance resilience.

However, the power utility is weighing more options to invest in clean energy.