Mozambique: Cahora Bassa electricity production increases by almost 5% in first half of 2024

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Mozambique: Cahora Bassa electricity production increases by almost 5% in first half of 2024

2:10 CAT | 15 Jul 2024

File photo: HCB

Electricity production at the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (HCB) in central Mozambique increased by almost 5% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2023, to 8,396.38 GWh, the company announced today.

“Production in the first semester represents an increase of 4.77% compared to the same period in 2023, a figure achieved largely due to the cautious management of the enterprise, associated with the continuous delivery of work teams to operations and maintenance reinforcement programs of equipment in the production chain,” HCB says in a statement.

It adds that, on June 30, 2024, the Cahora Bassa dam had a water level of 316.98 metres, corresponding to 59.2% of the reservoir’s useful storage, with electricity production exceeding the planned level for the first semester by 3.44%.

“This level of storage, significantly low for this period, is influenced by low inflows due to the ‘El Ninõ’ phenomenon characterized by below-normal precipitation over the region. In this context, HCB began, in June, the implementation of a cautious plan of hydro energy management of the reservoir and related infrastructures in order to balance production needs versus water availability in order to minimize the negative deviation in relation to planned annual production,” the company explains.

Quoted in the statement, the Chairman of HCB’s board of directors, Tomás Matola, highlights that “HCB’s energy production is very important and indispensable for the energy stability of the country and the region”.

“Therefore, the company will continue to monitor long-term meteorological forecasts, the evolution of the hydro-climatological situation in the Zambezi Basin and updates to the exploration plans for upstream dams, in order to allow operational adjustments at Cahora Bassa to be made in a timely manner,” Matola adds.

READ: Mozambique: Botswana President visits Cahora Bassa

Since its reversion to Mozambique, agreed with Portugal in 2007, the Mozambican state has held 90% of HCB’s share capital, while the Portuguese company Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) has a share of 7.5% and Eletricidade de Moçambique 2.5% %.

The Cahora Bassa reservoir is the fourth-largest in Africa, with a maximum extension of 270 kilometres in length and 30 km between banks, occupying 2,700 km/2 at an average depth of 26 meters.

At the end of 2022, HCB had 780 employees and recorded profits of 9,207 million meticais (€135 million), 9.3% more than in 2021.

Source: Lusa