Zim power line back in business

After the big scare of load shedding a fortnight ago, as the country faced serious power constraints due to a technical fault on one of the region’s transmission lines, the Ministry of Mines and Energy in consultation with NamPower, earlier this week confirmed that the 400kV transmission line in Zimbabwe has now been repaired.

According to the ministry this is the line that wheels the 80mW power supply as per the import agreement with the Zimbabwe Electricity supply Authority (ZESA) from Zimbabwe via Botswana to Namibia.
Despite the power situation having stabilised for now, the ministry and the power utility, NamPower advised consumers to use electricity sparingly. “We are now in winter and during these winter months, the usage of electricity traditionally goes up, putting additional strain on available power supply,” they added.
Again the ministry and the power utility in their statements said that in their continued commitment to supply power, they will continue to work fast-tracking various short-term critical supply initiatives to supplement local generation and to ensure security of supply.
“We appeal to all our customers and the nation to continue implementing electricity saving measures such as switching off air-conditioners, geysers and swimming pool pumps and all other non-essential appliances during peak times, which is six to nine in the morning and six to nine in the evening, to reduce demand,” said the ministry.
Meanwhile earlier last week NamPower announced that the first unit at the Van Eck Power Station outside Windhoek, is contributing megawatts to the local generation capacity and the second unit is expected to return to service by mid-to-end June 2015 with all units to be running at full capacity by the end of the year.