Escom’s K3.4bn Lilongwe diesel power plant ready March

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) says the 10 megawatts (MW) diesel-powered generation plant worth $4.7 million (about K3.4 billion) at Kanengo in Lilongwe will reduce intermittent power supply in the Central Region.

Currently, the sole power supplier has an installed capacity of 351MW of power, which is not enough for the country.

There are also plans to construct another six megawatts diesel-powered plant at Katoto in Mzuzu to cater for the Northern Region and a 16MW plant for the Southern Region, according to Escom.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media tour at Kanengo sub-power station on Tuesday, project coordinator Charles Kagona said there are five units each at the site which will be producing two megawatts each and depending on demand, they will be functioning at the same time.

“The new plant will be connected to national power grid and we hope that it will considerably reduce power outages especially during peak hours,” he said

Bella Zheng, sales executive for Yanan Electrical Machine Company, the Chinese company setting up the machines on site, said they have been working on site since late last year and by end March, they will have finished the work.

He said: “Our machines are good because when we were testing them in China, Escom officials saw for themselves how they can function”.