Escom still investigating cause of national blackout

The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has said it is investigating the cause of the national blackout that happened on Tuesday night.

Escom director of generation Evans Msiska was speaking on Wednesday during a tour of Kapichira Phase Two works.

Said Msiska: “Our engineers are still investigating the cause of the problem, but we suspect that rainfall might have caused the fault.

“The blackout started around eight in the evening and lasted for an hour. All our machines tripped due to the fault causing the blackout in the process.” 

He said they suspect the power outage was caused by a fault on the Ntcheu and Dedza line.

Msiska said the technical team will come up with a comprehensive report on the matter. Escom has since apologised for the blackout.

During the tour, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said government is committed to providing energy to the nation as evidenced by its efforts in attracting investors into the sector.

“The government is aware of the challenges of energy in the country and it is developing policies to attract investors to exploit other alternatives such as solar, thermal power and not depend only on hydro generation,” said Matola.

Completion of works at Kapichira Phase Two, which has two machines, will add about 64 megawatts to the grid.

Matola said one machine is expected to be complete by August while another by December this year.