Calvin Manika
HWANGE residents were on Wednesday afternoon shocked to witness a cloud of smoke engulfing the power station.
While no official comment could be obtained, The Zambezi Times gathered that cables at Unit 1 were severely burnt as they were close to fuel pipes.
The fire is suspected to have been caused by leaking diesel from the tanks located adjacent to Unit 1. The fire went through to the feed rack, before spreading to Unit 2 where it left cables burnt.
The Zambezi Times is reliably informed that the roof of the Pentair house was razed down resulting in the smoke which was seen by the people outside the plant.
It was not established whether there were any causalities.
A source who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said, “Cable tracing and replacement will be a challenge. This means Unit I and 2 will be out for some time and if we don’t import power, then more load shedding must be expected. But, at least Kariba is generating at the moment, though not enough for the nation.”
Meanwhile, Hwange power station with an installed capacity of 920MW was producing 283MW while Kariba is producing 754 MW out of the combined output of 1 075 MW daily.
ZESA public relations manager Prisca Utete could not be reached at the time of going to print.
