Maravi

Foreign-owned mines not affected by load shedding

Foreign-owned mines not affected by load shedding
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 17 Feb. 2012, 12:00 CAT

FOREIGN mining firms on the Copperbelt Energy Corporation power supply line remain unaffected by increased load shedding that has rocked the country since last Tuesday. Last Monday, Zesco Limited warned of increased load shedding in the next two weeks as a result of the shutdown of a key generating machine at Kariba North Bank Hydropower Station.

Director for corporate affairs and business development Bestty Phiri said Zesco had forecast that local power demand of 1,600 megawatts would be outstripped as during the period of the shutdown, only 1,474 megawatts would be available.

"During the machine outage, 165 megawatts will not be available on the national grid thereby resulting in a power deficit during that period. The deficit will necessitate load shedding in order to balance the available generation capacity with demand," said Phiri.

But CEC managing director for operations Neil Croucher said foreign mining firms on the Copperbelt remained immune from the current increased load shedding which has hit mostly, domestic, small-scale and other industrial consumers.

"We have not had any specific requests so far this week. We had a request last week which we acted upon when Zesco has a problem at the power station," said Croucher in an interview.

"Not at this stage have we been requested to cut back on power uptake from Zesco but we are prepared for that should it come through."

Labels: CEC, ENERGY, HYDRO POWER, LOAD SHEDDING, MINING

posted by MrK @ 4:15 PM