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Business Reporter
HWANGE Thermal Power Station is back on line after a weeklong shutdown due to a technical glitch that saw the country’s total power output drop to 801MW from about 1,200MW.

According to the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC)’s power generation report yesterday, Hwange was generating 294MW from zero in the last few days.

The station is the largest power plant in the country with a generation capacity of 920 megawatts followed by Kariba Hydro Power Station at 750 megawatts.

The ZPC report indicated that total power output had increased to 1,081MW with Kariba generating 717MW.

Small thermal stations — Bulawayo, Harare and Munyati — were producing 24MW, 30MW and 16MW respectively.

The temporary shutdown at Hwange had worsened power outages and crippled operations in productive sectors of the economy.

Zimbabwe has an average national demand of 2,200 megawatts that it cannot meet due to obsolete equipment at its five existing power stations.

ZPC says repair works are being undertaken on the steam pipe hangers, turbine thrust pads as well as other opportunistic maintenance jobs.

The government has embarked on massive power generation projects that will see the country generate more than 3,500 megawatts in the next five to six years.