Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) says it plans to upgrade transmission infrastructure from Salima to Karonga by 2029 to connect to the Eastern Africa Power Pool for power import and export.
Under the project, Escom said it will be replacing wooden poles with steel towers to support the power line to improve on quality of supply for electricity to the Northern Region and some parts of the Central Region.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday in Lilongwe after Escom signed two power purchase agreements for projects in the Northern Region, chief executive officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said Escom is in discussions with financiers to support the upgrade of its transmission infrastructure.
He said depending on conclusion of the negotiations, the project is estimated to take three years and the infrastructure should be ready by 2029 or 2030.
“In future we want to connect to Tanzania. On the Tanzania side, they have already done their part as they are at Songwe Border with the transmission line. They are waiting for Malawi,” said Kumwenda.
Escom spokesperson Peter Kanjere said the infrastructure upgrade will cost about $110 million and three financiers have been identified.
He said: “The required funding comes from the European Investment Bank with a concessional loan of 55 million euro and from the European Union a grant of 30 million euro. The African Development Bank [AfDB] will also invest in this project in parallel.
“AfDB will pump in $20 million as a concessional loan so that brings the total project cost to $110 million, so that is the actual project construction cost.”
Speaking in an interview yesterday, Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) chief executive officer Maxon Chitawo said if the capacity of conductors will be upgraded, losses will be reduced.
However, he said having the line on steel will improve reliability of supply as there will be no frequent switching off of electricity supply to the Northern Region.
Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said the country is making efforts to increase power generation and improve on transmission and distribution to ensure reliable power.
