Controversial Zim power station not feeding Namibia

THE power Namibia is supposed to get from its controversial U$50 million investment in the Hwange Power Station in Zimbabwe is currently going directly to Zambia because of a transmission fault.

According to NamPower spokesperson John Kaimu, varying amounts of the 150 MegaWatt (MW) available to Namibia from Hwange is being fed to Zambia because South Africa is currently unable to transmit the load here. He said this is because of maintenance taking place on one of the reactors at the Koeberg power station near Cape Town.As there is no direct connection between Hwange and Namibia, power has to come here via the South African network. NamPower is therefore selling the power to Zambia, which has a direct connection to Hwange and has been experiencing a power crisis for the past two weeks. According to Kaimu, the deal will not have a negative impact on the Namibian power situation, as the Ruacana hydropower plant is running at its full capacity of 240 MW and ‘with the supplementary power we get from South Africa, the supply is sufficient’. He said the situation will be resolved once Koeberg is operational again, which will be in ‘about two and a half weeks’, bringing the total time Namibia has not received power from Hwange to three weeks. According to an AFP report, Zambia’s power problems stem from the shutting down of two of the six generators at its Kafue Gorge hydropower station, as dead weeds blocked the water flow.