Post-election conflict affects delivery of Malawi-Mozambique electrical interconnection works

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Post-election conflict affects delivery of Malawi-Mozambique electrical interconnection works

11:51 CAT | 11 Mar 2025

File photo: RM

Post-electoral conflict recorded in some parts of Mozambique are delaying the delivery of
the Malawi-Mozambique electrical interconnection works. Previously scheduled for June this year, delivery will only be possible next October, according to the project coordinator and operations director at ESCOM, an electricity distributor in Malawi.

Maxwell Mulimakwenda said the June 2025 target was unlikely because construction in Mozambique was three months behind schedule. According to Mulimakwenda, on the Malawi side, the works are almost at the final stage, and will be commissioned by the end of March. Malawi reversed its previous plan to buy 120 megawatts of power due to lack of funds, as the operation would cost the country around US$10 million per month.

So, for the first five years, Malawi will consume 50MW, at a cost of approximately US$4.5
million per month. The project involves the construction of a 218-kilometre, 400-kilovolt high-voltage transmission line to supply approximately 50 MW to Malawi's national power grid.

The power interconnector is one of the projects expected to improve local power shortages
as Malawi is unlikely to meet its 1000 MW target by 2025. According to ESCOM, currently
Malawi has a total installed capacity of 554.24 MW of power, of which 101 MW is from
alternative sources.

In November 2021, President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi and former Mozambican statesman Filipe Nyusi presided over the launch of construction work on the energy interconnector transmission line in Tete province.

However, construction work only began in March 2023, with Indian contractor Larsen and
Toubro Limited promising that construction would be completed by December 2023.

The power interconnection will also raise the country’s profile from an observer to a fully operational member of the Southern African Power Pool.

Source: RM