BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Sigh of relief on power outages! Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has resumed generation of electricity at Kapichira Hydro Power Station in Chikwawa District.
The development has excited manufacturing sector and the general public for improved electricity supply.
This follows the closure of the power plant 14 months ago after Tropical Cyclone Ana washed away a section of Kapichira cofferdam.
Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza told The Daily Times on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 that the company was currently running one machine that is producing 32.4 megawatts (mw).
“We switched on one machine, which is giving us 32.4 megawatts (mw) but we want to, at least, switch on three machines while we continue with construction [works]. This should give us at least 97mw,” Gwaza said.
Kapichira hydropower plant has a total generation capacity of 129mw.
This is coming at a time Malawians have been subjected to prolonged power outages in recent weeks, exacerbated by damaged Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) infrastructure due to cyclone Freddy and vandalism.
In a recent interview, Escom Chief Executive Officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said the company needs US$30 million (about MK30 billion) to restore damaged infrastructure and put up a more resilient system.
He indicated that currently they have been able to restore infrastructure that was partially damaged but are facing challenges to reach some parts of Mulanje, Phalombe and Shire Valley districts.
“We haven’t done a proper assessment in areas where the roads have been washed away. The problem is that the damage is so extensive that we have to re-design the route, in some cases we have to change the designs and, in so doing, we need to have new way leaves where the lines pass.
“Where people live, we need to compensate the people; as such, we will work together with the Ministry of Lands because some of the spots where our lines were passing have now become rivers but for areas where the land is still safe and the poles were just down, we are almost done.
“We need to hire engineers to re-design the whole thing because we do not want to just restore temporarily but build better in case of other storms coming in the future.
“The total installation will cost us about US$30 million and it depends on how soon we get the funds but it may take us a maximum of six months and a minimum of three months to restore the damaged infrastructure,” Kumwenda said.
