Published: 21 October 2013

ZESA National Control Centre should be fully automated to allow for efficient and effective load shedding management.

The NCC, which is connected to all the power generating plants, is used to monitor the electricity situation in the country and for implementing load shedding schedules.

NCC electricity trading and operations manager Mr John Diya said this while taking Energy and Power Development Minister Mr Dzikamai Mavhaire, his deputy Mr Munacho Mutezo and senior government officials on a tour of the Harare Power Station (HPS). Mr Diya said only half of the system was automated while the other was not.

"There is need for automation. For it (load shedding) to be smoother we need to be automated, we need fully functional computer equipment," he said. "This control centre is blind to half of the city."

The fact that part of the system was manual made it difficult to consistently implement load shedding schedules as officials are at times required to travel to manually switch off certain areas, he said.

He said in most cases the country experienced a balance in power supply and demand after 9 pm.

Mr Diya urged Zimbabweans to bear with them on the ongoing load shedding schedule as up to 800MW of available power was meant for critical institutions which required it all the time.

- New Ziana

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