Zimbabwe’s power outages will continue into the foreseeable future due to ageing equipment described by Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi as an old Peugeot 404.
The country is experiencing a power shortfall due to generation constraints at the thermal power station Hwange, which is almost 40 years old.
Authorities are currently managing the power shortfall through load shedding in order to balance the power supply available and the connected load.
In addition, maintenance work on the dam wall at the hydropower station Kariba requires two generators to be offline daily for 12 hours. Zimbabwe is also seeing limited power imports.
Speaking during Wednesday question and answer session in the National Assembly, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi said government is on a drive to ensure that the country has new sources of energy.
“We are going into solar sources of energy, we are building new stations in Hwange and we are adding new ones. Mindful of the fact that the new turbines that we are using were built a very long time ago and they are now susceptible to breakages, if that happens, it is the one that we are using.
“You cannot stand up and definitively give somebody a guarantee that you are driving an old Peugeot 404 and you say that the guarantee that I give is that you will get to Harare and you are coming from Chegutu even when it has broken down – that guarantee cannot be given,” Ziyambi said.
Zimbabwe’s demand for power hovers around 2 000 MW.
However, due to ageing equipment, existing power plants are generating far below the national requirement.
“What we are doing as Government is, we have expanded our power generation capacity in Kariba, we are building new power stations and encouraging individuals to come up with independent power stations that feed into ZESA.
“So we have a medium term plan but the long term plan is to build new and efficient power stations so that we will now be able to definitively answer that question to say, even if these units break down, we have so much back-up and we will be able to ensure that our industry will continue uninterrupted,” he continued.
“We must also be mindful that as we speak, in South Africa, Zambia and the region as a whole, they are also having power shortages. So the issue really is to holistically look at our energy sector and admit that we have old power generation units that need to be upgraded to an extent that once we have done that, we will be rest assured that should this unit breakdown, we have so many back-up.
“At that particular stage, we will be able now to definitively say that the probability of all our units breaking down is 1% but at the moment because of the age of our generation units, they breakdown randomly and you cannot definitively say once they breakdown, I am guaranteeing that this particular unit will be able to power us through while this one is being worked on.”
Atleast ndochega chokwadi chataurwa kubva gore richitanga.
On another note minister, these aging equipments at Hwange and Kariba power stations can now be made localy, ur rtgs dollars could be used to fund the minds at HIT, UZ and MSU who hv working approved prototypes,
I know u wont hid ese noble ideas bcz zanu pf is a tender business hiding under sanctions banner, not willing to trust its own ppl for change and development.
Hamuna chamakadzidza pana smith
so what r u doing about it as minister?
Zvemuzimbabwe zvinoshamisa minister we justice ano commenter zvisi zvake
And then??
Frankly speaking if we still rely on infrastructure built in the colonial era as our power sources th… https://t.co/1vUCMAUrmy
And a justice minister for that matter,instead of taking about when land barons will be arrested and what are you doing with the scourge of armed robberies.you always sang the song of look east and that our friend China will do this and that,when the Peugeot was a ministerial car,how many have you changed up to this day?and you never bothered to see that Hwange was a grave already.you failed to resucitate munyati power station as small as it is.2 are going nowhere with you .
Instead of the gvt to invest in the procurement of modern technology like wind turbines and revamp such 404 likened machines, they focus on road infrastructure resurfacing.
Is he not overstepping boundaries here??. What does he have to do with power generation??. He must focus on implementing fair laws in the courts instead of spewing garbage. For the record.. the 404 was a very reliable and strong vehicle during its time.. unlike some ediots we know.. lying arrogant bastards.. mxmxm
zvinogoenda nepi muchipa basa kumakoronyera akaita sana wicknell
Offside
Silly excuse. Why not replace the equipment?
Well… that puts paid to someone’s statement that we are moving forward
Well… that puts paid to someone’s statement that we are moving forward.
Now what do we believe? Recently you were saying power cuts will be a thing of the past.
Hameni katatu
even the ageing leadrship is to blame as well
Ageing of the equipment and AGEING OF THE GOVERNMENT
ma elections achiri kure torai mari yamuri.kuda ku campaigners moisa kuzesa
Hoyooo
Matsotsi awanda muZim nenyaya yenhamo, onaiwo zvekuita. Zvamataura izvo hongu its a reality but koiwe ona zveku justice uko, ikoko kuEnergy hakuna minister here?