The governments of Malawi and Zambia have signed a power-sharing deal that will enable the two countries sell electricity to each other in times of need.
Malawi Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining permanent secretary Ben Botolo says that the two countries will now embark on the construction of an electricity interconnector.
Malawi, which is yet to connect to the Southern Africa Power Pool, is also pursuing plans to interconnect with Mozambique through an $80-million project that will be financed by the World Bank’s International Development Association.
Construction of the Mozambique–Malawi power interconnector is expected to be completed in 2017.
Malawi has an installed electricity generation capacity of 351.5 MW. Its peak demand currently stands at 350 MW but studies have shown that it will grow to 829 MW by 2020 owing to population growth and a projected upsurge in demand from the country’s emerging mining sector.
Malawi is currently experiencing a power crisis, which power utility Escom has attributed to reduced water levels in Lake Malawi and its outlet, the Shire river, which are the major sources of water for hydropower electricity generation in the country. “In the current scenario, if [our] power stations were to run at full capacity, this would mean fast depletion of water storage pond levels, a situation that is not desirable for sustained operations. This is a reality that is not reversible at the moment and is likely to worsen in the next four to five months,” says Escom.
Escom has attributed to reduced water levels in Lake Malawi and the Shire river to low rainfall in the past season.
Malawi generates 98% of its power from hydropower stations on the Shire river, which include Nkula, Tedzani and Kapichira.