Major breakdown at Cahora Bassa – AIM report

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Major breakdown at Cahora Bassa – AIM report

7:58 CAT | 18 Apr 2018

File photo: HCB

A massive power cut plunged all of central and northern Mozambique into darkness on Tuesday night.

The power cut was caused by a serious breakdown at the Cahora Bassa power station in the town of Songo, in the western province of Tete. The breakdown also interrupted supplies of power from the Cahora Bassa dam to South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A press release from Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the dam, said the breakdown resulted from “an unforeseen disturbance that occurred in the work currently under way to modernise the servers of the system that controls the company’s generator groups”.

A technical team from the manufacturer of the equipment, the US company General Electric, has been modernising the servers.

HCB said that, as soon as the breakdown occurred (at 17.22) teams were mobilised to restore the power supply. The power was flowing again about five hours after the incident.

AIM sources in Tete and Nampula provinces confirmed that the electricity supply was back to normal by about 23.00.

Last month HCB announced that it was investing in the modernisation of the sub-station at Songo in order to improve the reliability of the power supply.

Source: AIM