Botswana hit by power crisis

| Wednesday November 10, 2010 00:00

 

*The power failure affects much of the country

* BPC does not know when power will be restored

* Morupule and South African transmission have been lost

According to Botswana Power Corporation the power cut was occasioned by the main transmission line that was lost in Matimba in South Africa to Phokoje in Botswana. This is the transmission which is used to import power from South Africa.

The situation was further compounded by the power failure at the Morupule Power Station. 

'The loss of the Matimba/Phokoje Transmission Line is due to a fault on this line and patrols by BPC and Eskom are currently in progress to locate the fault', a statement from BPC publicity chief Tlhomamiso Selato reads.

Contingency measures have been put in place to restore supply to some parts of the country through other inter-connectors from Spitzkop in South Africa and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe albeit with limited capacity.

The Emergency Power facility has also been put in service to alleviate the power shortage. The maximum load which can be supported by the above-mentioned measures is approximately 300MW (60% of peak load).

'BPC and Eskom staff are working round the clock to restore the Matimba/Phokoje interconnector in the shortest possible time. Stakeholders will be given regular updates on the situation.

The corporation sincerely regrets any inconvenience that may be caused by this interruption and assures our customers of our commitment to serve at all times', ends the statement.