A widespread blackout struck Zimbabwe and Zambia at approximately 12:55 PM on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, causing a regional power outage. This was the second such incident in recent weeks, triggered by cascading failures within the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), a cooperative framework designed to enhance regional energy resilience.
The blackout was caused by a disruption in the power transmission system, particularly the Zambia-Zimbabwe interconnector, which tripped lines connecting Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), a subsidiary of Eskom, clarified that the issue was not a power surge but a protective automatic shutdown triggered to prevent damage to the power system.
In a statement, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) explained that an “imbalance in power on the international connections” led to the outage. While power has been restored to most parts of Zimbabwe, some areas are still under load shedding. The SAPP Coordination Centre, based in Harare, is investigating the incident.
On the eve of the blackout, Zimbabwe’s power generation fell to its lowest level in over a year, producing just 736MW, a stark contrast to the 970MW produced by one unit of South Africa’s Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.
Eskom, Africa’s largest electricity producer, plays a crucial role in the SAPP, facilitating the efficient operation of the interconnected grid, which covers multiple countries across Southern Africa.