Zimbabwe and Zambia experienced a synchronized electricity blackout on Tuesday after South African power utility Eskom triggered a shutdown due to a surge.
The power outage occurred just before 1 PM on Tuesday, with restoration efforts starting about an hour later.
Eskom switched off the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) system to prevent serious infrastructure damage.
The latest blackout was linked to failures in Zimbabwe’s infrastructure, which ZESCO (Zambia’s power utility) uses to import power from Eskom and Electricidade de Moçambique.
ZimLive was told that Zambia, whose electricity generation shortfall is more severe “has been importing power from Mozambique like crazy.” Said a source:
Electricidade de Mocambique pushes power into Zimbabwe which then conveys it to Zambia.
Zambia is over-importing electricity through the SAPP system and the systems in Zimbabwe are struggling to cope, leading to an overcurrent.
As all three countries monitor the SAPP system, Eskom ultimately decided to pull the safety plug, plunging its northern neighbours into darkness.
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ZESA Holdings (Zambia’s power utility) confirmed the system disturbance in a statement on Tuesday evening.
ZESA said restoration to most parts of the country had been completed, except for areas under load shedding.
ZESA Holdings would like to advise its valued stakeholders that the National grid experienced a system disturbance which resulted in a national blackout on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at 1255 hours.
This incident was caused by an imbalance in power on the international connectors, which affected the national grids of Zimbabwe and some parts of the region.
Restoration to most parts of the country has been completed, except for areas under load shedding.
Meanwhile, as per our earlier communication last month, we would like to advise our valued stakeholders that Hwange Unit 8 has started undergoing the scheduled Annual Class ‘C’ maintenance.
Measures are being taken to ensure adequate power supply during the festive season.
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