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Egenco pegs Kapichira rehab progress at 60%

Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) says Kapichira Hydro Power Station maintenance works are at 60 percent and within schedule to restore power production by January 25.

Egenco acting chief executive officer Maxon Chitawo said this when Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola visited the power station in Chikwawa on Sunday, almost two weeks after the maintenance works started on January 1 2025.

Some of the maintenance works in progress. | George Lumwira

He said the maintenance works were necessary to improve the station’s efficiency, 24 years after the first terminal, which generated half of the station’s 129.6 megawatts (MW), was installed.

Said Chitawo: “We planned to carry out the work in 25 days, but, so far, we are already above 50 percent.  We are within the schedule.

“We should be able to finish unit one on time. As for unit three, it is already back on line while unit four is almost complete.”

He said the projection is that more than 60 percent or about 90 MW of power should be restored on the national grid by today.

Chitawo said the units undergoing repairs were installed between 1998 and 1999 and became operational in 2000.

The maintenance works have cost Egenco not more than K1 billion, he said.

Matola expressed satisfaction with the progress of the works so far, describing the exercise as huge, complex and time-consuming.

“The maintenance works happening here are so huge. Engineers are working day and night to ensure that power from the station is restored to the national grid as soon as possible,” he said.

Before the maintenance works at Kapichira, Malawians were enjoying relatively stable electricity supply over the past two years.

The station’s 129.6 MW generating capacity makes it the country’s biggest power station, producing about 33 percent of Egenco electricity output.

Malawians have started the New Year 2025 on a gloomy note with increased power rationing after technical challenges at Kapichira and Nkula B hydro power stations took out 84.8 megawatts (MW) from the national grid.

The development has left the grid with 305.7MW from hydro power plants.

Egenco has total installed generation capacity of 441.95MW, with 390.55MW from hydro power plants and 51.4MW from standby diesel power plants.

Malawi Government planned to generate 1 000MW of power by 2025 due to reforms which it said had opened up opportunities for independent power producers. However, the target was missed due to poor or delayed response from potential investors in the power sector.

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