SEC STOPS LOCAL POWER GENERATION

MBABANE – The lack of rainfall has forced SEC to import 100 per cent electricity from neighbouring countries.

SEC is an acronym for the Swaziland Electricity Company.
This is the country’s major supplier of electricity.

The acting Managing Director (MD) of SEC, Meshack Kunen, said they used water to generate electricity in the country and the prevailing drought situation had a direct core relation to the power generation.
He said this yesterday during a press conference at the company headquarters’ boardroom.

“The country now imports 100 per cent electricity, a situation that has never occurred before due to the drought that has seriously affected the company’s operations,” said Kunene.
The acting MD said they had a serious shortage of water and their power generation equipment were at a standstill.
“We buy from neighbouring states, particularly ESKOM in South Africa,” he said.

Kunene added that there were also Independent Power Producers (IPPs) such as Illovo in Big Bend with which they had agreements to have them sell their surplus electricity.
He said they had four hydro-electric power stations, which included Dwaleni, Emaguduza, Emnyamatsini and Maguga.

“On the first week of February we stopped generating electricity from Maguga, which makes it approximately 10 months now. At the other stations, we stopped generating last month,” he said.
The acting MD said water levels at Maguga Dam decreased drastically and, therefore, they had to abort their operation early as continued power generation could have damaged their machinery.
“After generating at Luphohlo, we channel the water to the Mbabane River which joins the Lusushwana River, which in turn feeds into the Mkhinkhomo Dam in Matsapha.

“We would then transfer it through a canal to Edwaleni to generate power using the same water. Furthermore we would channel the water through a canal to generate more electricity at Maguduza,” said Kunene.
According to the acting MD, about 5.6 mega watts of electricity was produced at Maguduza before they released the water back to the great Usutu River.


 
   
 

  

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