Power outage in central and northern Mozambique explained – A Verdade

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Power outage in central and northern Mozambique explained – A Verdade

10:29 CAT | 14 Dec 2023

Image: A Verkade

Millions of citizens in the central and northern provinces of Mozambique were without electricity between Sunday (10-12) and Tuesday (12-12) of this week.

“This a problem is not restricted to internal factors, but is also associated with events beyond the control of Electricidade de Moçambique,” a spokesperson for the state electricity company told @Verdade, explaining that “the Centro Norte system starts at the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant”.

The drama followed a 10-hour maintenance power outage scheduled by Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) for Sunday (10-12).

Reconnection, originally scheduled for 4:00 p.m. that day, only took place at around 1:00 a.m. on Monday, due to a “break in the barring”.

However, at the end Monday (11-12), new blackouts occurred, and supply was restored only on Tuesday morning, albeit with further interruptions recorded during the rest of the day.

“The Centro Norte system starts at the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant, which at the same time supplies energy to Zimbabwe and South Africa,” EDM spokesperson Julião Nhassengo told Jornal@Verdade on Wednesday (13-12).

“A disturbance in the Songo to Bindura system – which supplies Zimbabwe – caused the system to collapse. It is a problem that is not restricted to internal situations, it is associated with events beyond the control of Electricidade de Moçambique,” he explained.

“We are seeing records of outages originating from [outside] HCB, such as a disruption to the network in Zimbabwe which created an overload on the source (HCB), and, due to the magnitude of the short circuit, the entire network was disconnected. The reconnection process is phased – loads cannot be resumed suddenly, as this could damage equipment.”

The EDM spokesperson did not indicate when the electricity supply to central and northern provinces will return to normal.

Source: A Verdade