Egenco moves to ensure reliable power supply
Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has outlined measures to sustain the current ‘improved’ power generation capacity, including harvesting water in Lake Malawi to use during the dry season.
In an interview on Tuesday, Egenco chief executive officer William Liabunya touted the automated Liwonde Barrage for helping the firm to “accurately release water for use downstream” at each given time.
“This coupled with the good rainfall we had last rainy season, which mainly came in the Central and Northern parts of the country, helped to build up the lake levels. The water levels this year are the highest for the past seven years,” he said.
Liabunya also cited the diesel generators in Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu with a combined capacity of 46 megawatts (MW) which supplement power produced in hydropower stations.
He said Egenco is also banking on its 15-year strategic plan that runs from 2018 to 2033, which is key in tracking progress and ensure that it is in line with changes in the industry.
“It is a 15-year strategy unlike many that you may have seen because power projects tend to have a long turnaround time. To develop a 100 megawatt hydro power plant, for example, you need not less than four years,” said Liabunya.
Three weeks ago, Vice-President Saulos Chilima, who is also Minister of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, hailed Egenco for its implementation of the reforms and its financial status.
Writing on his Facebook page, the Vice-President said: “I have been updated on the Egenco’s reforms performance status which shows tremendous progress in reforms implementation, strategic direction as well as the status of the organisation’s financial health.”
He said it is commendable that from 57.7MW that Egenco added to the national grid since 2017 after the unbundling process, the company has utilised its own money to carry out various projects.
Commenting on the Veep’s pronouncements, Liabunya said they set their goals and manage the business well.
“When you put plans in place, stakeholders understand your vision and they work with you helping you to achieve it.
“We have made a clear decision that we have to use the resources prudently as that is one of our strategic pillar,” he said.
Some of the ongoing projects that Egenco is working on include Kapichira dredging, which will help the company to reclaim lost active water reservoir capacity at Kapichira Hydro Power Station and also engaging Mota-Engil to do capital dredging of the Nkula pond to also reclaim the lost active storage at the dam due to heavy siltation.
