Zimbabwe restores power after national grid collapse

Zimbabwe has restored electricity to most of the country after a nationwide blackout, with crews still working to reconnect parts of the capital, Harare, the state-owned power utility said Tuesday.

A fault on the network caused the national grid to collapse at 6:24 pm local time (1624 GMT) on Monday, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) said.

Power was restored using supplies from four stations, including South Africa’s Eskom, ZESA said.

“We are pleased to advise that by 2200 hours, power had been successfully restored to most of our bulk supply points across the country,” it said in a statement on X.

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Work was still ongoing to “restore and synchronise” units at the coal-fired Hwange power station in the northwest, which supplies parts of Harare, it said.

The resource-rich but energy-starved country has grappled with recurring power shortages in recent years because of ageing infrastructure and weak generation capacity.

Output from the Kariba hydropower plant, the country’s other main source of electricity, has also been constrained by low water levels caused by poor rainfall and recurring droughts.

AFP

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