Zimbabwe suffers nationwide blackout as system disturbance cripples grid

By James Kunda

LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) - Zimbabwe was hit with a crippling nationwide blackout Thursday, with authorities citing a system disturbance at its two major generation points using coal and hydro sources.

The outage also interrupted interconnections with regional suppliers in South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique, state-owned power utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) said in a statement.

"The blackout occurred at exactly 14:11 hours (1211GMT) and resulted from the loss of generation from the Kariba Dam and Hwange power stations. Our teams are working tirelessly to bring the remaining affected areas back (online) in the shortest possible time. Further updates will be given as the system restoration progresses," it said.

ZESA apologized to customers for the inconvenience caused by the outage, adding that efforts were being made to stabilize the grid and that power was already being restored to some areas.

The southern African nation's power grid has faced increasing pressure in recent years due to ageing infrastructure and declining water levels at the Kariba Power Station, the country's largest hydroelectric station, due to a perennial drought.

The Kariba Power Station, bordering neighboring Zambia, has an installed generation capacity of 1,050 megawatts, while the Hwange Thermal Power Station in Matabeleland has an installed capacity of 1,520 megawatts.