By Patience Gondo
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) on October 20 2025 announced that Hwange Unit 8 contributing 300MW to the national grid has been taken off line due to a technical fault.
It is one of the new two units commissioned in 2023 and its shutting has significant negative impact on national supply.
Hwange unit 8 is one of two new units 7 and 8 added during phase 3 of the expansion boosting Hwange ‘s total capacity from 920 MW to 1,520MW .
Together the units contribute 600 MW to the national grind.
The unit, a crucial component of the nation’s power generation infrastructure, is expected to remain out of service for 10 days while restoration work is underway.
In mitigation measures to minimize the impact of the outage ZESA said Hwange Unit 7 will continue to operate, generating 335MW to support system stability.
“Generation at Kariba South Power Station has also been ramped up, with careful management of water allocations, to help compensate for the temporary shortfall.”
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding as we work to restore the unit to service,” ZESA said.
ZESA Holdings has warned that increased load-shedding is unavoidable as a result of the reduced power generation.