Malawi has contracted Portuguese company Coba Consultores de Engenharia to conduct a feasibility study into a 200 MW hydropower plant on the Shire river.
Joseph Kalowekamo, energy spokesperson at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, says the feasibility study is being financed using a $3.04-million grant from the African Development Bank and $230 000 from Malawi’s fiscus.
Kalowekamo says the Malawi government is mulling roping in a private partner into the project, which is expected to cost over $300-million.
“A public–private partnership financing model is preferred for this project, considering the huge electricity generation capacity of the plant and the perceived investment risk by the private sector, if a private developer were to go it alone.”
Kalowekamo says construction of the planned Kholombidzo hydropower plant, which is expected to play a major role in curbing the country’s power crisis, is scheduled to start in 2018, with completion scheduled for 2021.
Malawi is currently in the throes of a power crisis attributable to inadequate generation capacity. Its installed generation capacity of 351.75 MW is far short of demand of over 450 MW, which is projected to grow to over 1 000 MW by 2020.
The country is encouraging independent power producers (IPPs) to venture into the generation sector as it battles to meet this growing demand. It has started working on reforming its tariff structure to make it attractive to the IPPs.
Up to 99% of the country’s electricity is generated at hydropower stations on the Shire river, with 4.5 MW generated on the Wovwe river.