Hope as Escom signs more power deals
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) on Monday signed 14 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with four Independent Power Producers (IPPs) with a total generation capacity of 542 megawatts (MW) on the national grid.
The firms, Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (Egenco) with hydro power plants, namely Nkula A (24 MW), Nkula B (100 MW), Tedzani (92.7MW), Kapichira (129.6 MW) and Wovwe (4.5 MW) with a total generation capacity of 350 MW and therma (dieasel) diesel generation PAAs namely Mzuzu thermal (diesel) power plant (6MW), Mapanga thermal (diesel) power plant (20 MW), Lilongwe A thermal (diesel) power plant (5.7MW), Kanengo II thermal (diesel) power plant (10 MW) and Kanengo I thermal (diesel) power plant (10 MW) with a total generation capacity of 51.7 MW.
They also include a 20MW floating panels solar PV power plant in Monkey Bay in Mangochi and a 50MW Mzimba Wind Farm by Droege Energy; a 50MW Solar PV project at Bwengu, in Mzimba by Quantel Energy and a 20MWac solar PV project with battery storage at Kanengo in Lilongwe by Kanengo Solar Project Limited (Atlas).
Speaking after signing the PPAs, Escom chief executive officer Allexon Chiwaya said the utility supplier seeks to grow penetration rate from the current 12 percent to 30 percent.
“We would like to grow up to 30 percent within the next 10 years but focus now will be on the supply side so that we don’t experience load shedding. To do that, we have to diversify from hydropower generation,” he said.
On his part, Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Collins Magalasi said the projects could bring into reality government’s dreams of diversifying energy sources in the country.
“In the medium term, total stock of blackout is what we can see because with the four companies we have signed today, we are bringing in extra power and in three years, we will have an oversupply of electricity. We are already negotiating markets for them,” he said.
