The World Bank has agreed to help fast-track the implementation of Malawi’s $84.7-million Energy Sector Support Project, which has faced delays.

The bank is funding the project, aimed at improving the operational capacity of Malawi’s hydro-based electricity sector and identifying alternative energy sources.

“The project is currently procuring consultants. We, therefore, expect acceleration in disbursement in the coming year, when procurement of goods begins,” says World Bank Malawi country manager Sandra Bloemankamp.

The bank says it resolved to ask the implementing agencies – the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) – to fast-track the project because limi- ted procurement has taken place, which has resulted in the slow disbursement of funds.

The Energy Sector Support Project will include feasibility studies on a number of potential hydropower sites and the identification of diverse alternative energy sources.

The project will also include the rehabilitation, upgrading and expansion of Escom’s transmission and distribution networks.

Malawi, which derives 94% of its electricity from hydro sources, has six hydropower plants on the Shire river and a mini hydropower plant at Wovwe, in the country’s northern region.

The country has other potential sites for power generation on the Shire and other smaller rivers that are capable of producing over 1 000 MW of electricity. The Malawi government is hoping for World Bank support to develop these potential sites and explore prospects of generating power from alternative sources such as solar, wind and biogas to feed into the national grid. Meanwhile, it was reported last month that ASX-listed energy group NuEnergy Gas had launched an airborne geophysical exploration campaign for shale gas and coal-bed methane at its 346 km2 licence area in the district of Chikhwawa, in the lower Shire Valley area. The airborne geophysical survey is part of ongoing geological studies at the site.