Mulanje Hydro Power managing director Ian MacKersie told journalists on Tuesday in Mulanje, a district in southern Malawi, that the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by the end of March and would feed into Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi (Escom)’s national grid.
“After noting the shortfall of electricity in the country, we came with this concept of bringing in additional power generated from Ruo and Ndidza rivers in the district, thereby easing the pressure of blackouts at national level,” MacKersie said.
He said the second phase of the project would be commissioned in August this year, adding some more power to the national grid.
According to Escom spokesperson Innocent Chitosi, the country’s national grid has a capacity of 350 MW, which is not enough for the country.
“Malawi needs almost 100,000 MW to mitigate challenges that energy sector is experiencing,” Chitosi said.
The Mulanje project started in December 2018 when the company signed a power purchase agreement with the Malawian government and Escom
Chitosi revealed that the Malawian government has also signed an agreement with Zambia under which the former would be purchase 20 MW of electricity from the neighbouring country every year.