US federal agency the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is preparing to finance projects to upgrade Malawi’s power grid so that the country can interconnect with neighbours Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
The MCC will finance the projects as part of the $350.7-million energy compact programme for Malawi, scheduled to be implemented over five years.
The planned projects include a 400 kV power line from Phombeya, in the southern district of Balaka, to Nkhoma, in Lilongwe. Also planned
is a 132 kV power line from Chintheche, in Nkhata Bay, to Bwengu, in the north of the country.
MCC Malawi infrastructure development director Felix Nkhoma explains that substations at Bwengu, Nkhoma and Phombeya have been designed to accommodate government plans to interconnect its power grid with those of neighbouring countries.
“We hope these interconnections will reduce power supply challenges not only in Malawi but also in neighbouring countries through power trading,” he says.
The aim of the transmission network-upgrade component of the compact is to improve the quality and reliability of power supply, increase capacity, reduce technical losses and provide a secure electricity transmission link for Malawi.
The compact also entails the rehabilitation of ageing power plants on the Shire river, which account for up to 98% of the country’s power supply.
Malawi’s electricity demand currently stands at 351 MW but the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi projects that this will jump to 420 MW owing to new mining projects coming on stream and new connections in a country where only 6% of the population has access to electricity.
Malawi is implementing power generation projects that include the installation of a new plant at Tedzani, on the Shire river, with funding from Japan.
The Chinese are also funding the construction of a 300 MW coal-fired power plant in the southern Neno district. Malawi is also courting independent power producers.