The Hwange Thermal Power Station is the biggest power plant in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

with an installed capacity of 920 MW. It is owned and operated by the national electricity company

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, (ZESA) whose official name is ZESA Holdings (Private) Limited, is a state-owned company whose task is to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in Zimbabwe. It has organized this task by delegatio ...

. It was built in two stages and consists of 4 units of 120 MW each and 2 units of 220 MW each. Engineering Consultants, Merz & McLellan, were employed for the design and supervision of the construction of the power station. Construction of Stage 1 commenced in 1973, but was suspended in 1975 due to economic sanctions imposed on

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. Stage 1's units were commissioned from 1983 to 1986 with Stage 2's units following in 1986 and1987. A reliable source of water lies further north, in the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

. From there, through a long pipeline, water for the boilers and cooling towers is drawn by both high and low lift pumps to a storage reservoir located adjacent to the station and conveyed by gravity to the station. About of raw water can be provided every day. The demineralisation plant has a capacity of per day. A conveyor belt that measures long, brings about of coal per hour from the nearby Wankie Colliery open cast mine, and 250,000 tonnes of coal are stockpiled on site. Coal reserves estimated to support 1,200 MW for an estimated 30 years are concealed beneath the vast expanse of the coal mine. Technical problems due to neglect of maintenance, part replacement and upgrading make the plant prone to frequent production stops. In 2009,

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

NamPower Namibia Power Corporation, commonly known as NamPower, is the national electric power utility company of Namibia. The company is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country. Its activities are lice ...

made agreements to help ZESA to revive the plant's capacity in exchange for power deliveries. The extensive problems are however continuing and have even led the government to considering a full closure of the plant. In April 2008, ''Chadha Power'' of India secured a contract to refurbish four units at the power plant. In December 2015 China agreed to provide a $1.2 billion loan to add 600 MW of generating capacity to the Hwange power station with two additional units.

Recent developments

As of July 2021, the upgrade of adding Unit 7 and Unit 8, each with capacity of 300 megawatts was about 68 percent complete, with commercial commissioning expected in 2022. The contract price of the upgrade is quoted as US$1.5 billion. In March 2022, the ''

Zimbabwe Herald ''The Herald'' is a state-owned daily newspaper published in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. History Origins The newspaper's origins date back to the 19th century. Its forerunner was launched on 27 June 1891 by William Fairbridge for the Ar ...

'' reported that work completion had progressed to 82 percent, as of then.

References

External links

IndustCards
- Coal-Fired Power Plants in Africa, retrieved 22 March 2010. {{Authority control Coal-fired power stations in Zimbabwe Matabeleland North Province

Recent developments

See also

References

External links