Zimbabwe’s state power utility said Tuesday it had restored electricity to most of the country after a major transmission fault triggered a nationwide blackout the previous evening.
ZESA said the outage began at 6:24 p.m. local time on Monday after a fault on the Warren-Alaska 330-kilovolt line disrupted connections with neighbouring power utilities. The failure caused local generation units to trip because of voltage instability and under-frequency, the utility said.
Power was restored using supplies from South Africa’s Eskom, Kariba Power Station, Hydro Cahora Bassa and three units at Hwange Power Station. Electricity had returned to most parts of the country by around 10 p.m. local time, according to ZESA.
The utility said technical teams were still working to restore and synchronise the remaining units at Hwange Power Station, while repairs continued at the Warren substation, which supplies parts of the capital, Harare.
Zimbabwe has faced persistent electricity shortages for years, driven by ageing infrastructure, limited domestic generation and foreign currency shortages that have constrained the country’s ability to pay for power imports.