ZIMBABWE ANNOUNCES 12-HOUR LOADSHEDDING

And just like that, loadshedding in South Africa doesn’t seem that bad anymore.

On Sunday, Zimbabwe’s electricity provider, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) published its latest loadshedding schedule. New 12-hour loadshedding intervals have been implemented across the country.

With the schedule, the company confirmed that Zimbabwe is experiencing a power shortfall due to generation constraints at the thermal power station Hwange, which is almost 40 years old, reports News24.

Besides that, maintenance work is being carried out at the hydropower station Kariba. The work requires two generators to be offline daily for 12 hours. With power being in high demand in its neighbouring countries, Zimbabwe is struggling to import power.

Loadshedding will be implemented across the country, although hospitals, water and sewerage installations will be spared as far as possible.

The loadshedding couldn’t have happened at a worst time for the agriculture sector as wheat farmers are currently irrigating their crops.

Bloomberg reports that the Kariba Power Station is currently undergoing a US$294 million project which is being financed by the African Development Bank, World Bank, Swedish government and the European Union. The Southern African country has an installed capacity of 2.1GW but generates an average of 1.2GW to 1.3GW with the shortfall being met through imports from countries including South Africa.

Image credit: eNCA