Lilongwe solar power project excites govt
Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Atupele Muluzi has said government will continue to allocate land to local and foreign investors to demonstrate that Malawi is ready for large-scale investments.
He said this in Lilongwe on Friday after allocating 60 hectares to Atlas Energies Limited, a local power firm that will be producing solar power.
He said there is no country which can develop without adequate power.
Atlas Energies Limited plans to invest over K55 billion ($98,214,286) to install solar panels on the land to generate 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity which would be connected to the national power grid through Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom).
“We are happy that as a ministry responsible for land, we have done our part because for any country to move forward, we need a lot of energy. With enough power, we will see more investors coming in to help grow our economy,” said Muluzi.
He said the coming in of Atlas Energies will create jobs for Malawians thereby reducing poverty.
Said Muluzi: “As a ministry, we have done our part and the other players in the energy sector will also play their rightful role to help the investor complete the project in the shortest time possible.
“We will make sure, as government, that people currently occupying the land where the new investor wants to settle in are properly compensated and enjoy some benefits from the investor.”
On his part, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Bright Msaka said there are a number of players that want to invest in the energy sector and government is willing to provide necessary support to set up their investments.
“We have a lot of natural resources from which we can generate electricity and we are ready to support investors who are willing to come in and play their rightful role.
“Atlas Energies executive director Richard Bunderson said they have already identified financiers for the project, but are yet to conclude discussions with Escom on power purchase agreement (PPA).
“We will be employing over 300 people in the first phase but when the project is up and running, we will have over 100 people on our payroll which is no mean achievement. This solar field will be the biggest in the Sadc [Southern Africa Development Community] region apart from South Africa,” he said.
Atlas Energies has come in at the time the country is experiencing power outages affecting business operations.
Escom only generates 351MW of power against a suppressed demand of 350MW.
The Jasper Solar Power Station in RSA (the largest in Africa), produces 96MW of electricity and covers a piece of land 10.25 hectares. Why so is the proposed Malawi project producing 40MW is geared to cover 60 hectares? I smell a really rotten fish. The RSA project is cited in a remote desert area, while the Malawi project will be in lush Lilongwe. Come on, we all know where the sunniest place in Malawi is, Ngabu, Mangochi, Salima, Karonga take your pick and put the project there. These areas are also short in electricity. Reminds me of another project to move coal from Karonga to Chipoka for a coal power generation plant, why not generate the electricity on site at Karonga?
Is there enough market in the places that you have mentioned. Solar power does come cheap.
The technology used in SA is different. More efficient but much more expensive. Putting the solar farm in a remote location means you also have to distribute over long distances. They have no license for distribution only generation and Escom don’t have the resources to put in the distribution infrastructure.
This is a good initiative, let’s suppott it. We all know Malawi needs this kind of development.
Karonga is a power deficit district, with all power coming from Nkula etc. But the district requires a lot of power to enable mines to be open (uranium, coal, rare earths). Actually one reson Kayelekera is now uneconomic is because they use diesel powered gensets for their use. Why then put a power plant in Lilongwe?
RSA has 3 major solar plants in Africa (1) Jasper based on solar panel technology, (2) lesedi same as Jasper and (3) Redstone based on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology. The Malawi project will be similar to Jasper, so no reason for all the land requested at all.
Good points there!
Mphwache, turns out the Jasper Solar project is actually 140 hectares and not 10 as you stated here. Also, I’m very reliably informed that the ESCOM grid cannot evacuate power in the North until after MCC have completed their work. These guys have worked day and night on this and I’m pretty sure they have a good idea what they’re doing. It’s also great to know that this is a local company doing this thing. Let’s support this and lets make sure any critique, suspicion or whatever, is based on actual facts. We’re always our own worst enemies in progress.
Mphwache, turns out the Jasper Solar project is actually 140 hectares and not 10 as you stated here. Also, I’m very reliably informed that the ESCOM grid cannot evacuate power in the North until after MCC have completed their work. These guys have worked day and night on this and I’m pretty sure they have a good idea what they’re doing. It’s also great to know that this is a local company doing this thing. Let’s support this and lets make sure any critique, suspicion or whatever, is based on actual facts. We’re always our own worst enemies in progress