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Oliver Kazunga Acting Business Editor
Bulawayo Thermal Power Station which was shut down mid last month for maintenance work is back on line adding 20 megawatts to the national grid.The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) indicated on its website yesterday that the power plant was now on track increasing the country’s electricity generation to 1,034MW.

The addition of 20MW onto the national grid guarantees households of sufficient electricity during the festive season although the shutting down of the power plant has not resulted in any load shedding as many companies were on annual shutdown.

Bulawayo Power Station was expected to be back on track on December 21 but engineers missed the deadline to rebuild the feed as there was not enough water for the exercise.

ZPC general manager Engineer Noah Gwariro told this paper recently that they were carrying out minor maintenance work at Bulawayo Power Station following a breakdown that resulted in insufficient feed water. The plant was shut down in the early hours of December 12.

Maintenance works at the power station included statutory inspection on Boiler 5.

Boilers 6, 7, 9 were on refractory repairs, Boiler 8 was on external cleaning and Boiler 10 was on standby.

Generators 3 and 4 were out of commission due to on-going condenser cleaning while Generator 5 refurbishment works were to be carried out during the repowering project.

ZPC indicated that Boiler 5 was still on statutory inspection while Boiler 6 was on crown valve and ash belt repairs.

“Boiler 7 has a curing fire, Boiler 8 is on refractory repairs, Generator 3 is out of commission due to on-ongoing condenser cleaning,” said the power company.

Bulawayo Power Station was mothballed for more than 10 years and brought back to service in 2011 when power shortages intensified, but is only producing around 40MW from its installed capacity of 90MW.

The thermal power station was commissioned in the 1950s.

It was transferred to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority in 1987 after the amalgamation of all local authority electricity undertakings, the Electricity Supply Commission, thermal power stations at Munyati and Hwange and the Central African Power Corporation station at Kariba.

The plant has shut down several times this year due to challenges with the aging machinery.

At present, Zimbabwe generates about 1,300MW against a national demand of 2,200MW leaving industry and households to grapple with incessant load shedding.