Escom says it is saving 1.5 megawatts of power in Ndirande alone after replacing incandescents with 42 000 compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or energy saver bulbs in 16 734 households.
This is part of the countrywide installation of CFLs under the British Department for International Development (DfID)-sponsored Energy Efficient Lighting Project (EELP) in which two million bulbs were procured.
In this project, 1.3 million CFLs will be installed free of charge to over 200 000 households and the remaining 700 000 bulbs will be sold to commercial and industrial customers at a subsidised price yet to be decided.
DfID provided a grant of £3 million (K810 million) for the project.
Giving an update on progress of the work, CFLs project coordinator Ronie Kumwenda told reporters this week that the installation, which started on February 27, is targeting high residential feeder loads.
Apart from the populous township, he said, they have also installed 40 000 bulbs in Chilobwe which has 7 912 households.
“Installation has commenced in Chilomoni covering Sigelege, Chilomoni Fargo, Michiru, Likhubula and Namiwawa,” he said.
After the completion of the whole project, Escom is expected to save about 50 megawatts, equivalent to building a whole power plant, said Kumwenda.
On delivery, he said currently, there are 12 containers catering for the Southern Region, one for the North with two remaining and three for the Central with six yet to be received.
Escom is also targeting three to four large chain retailers to be selling the bulbs to commercial and industrial customers at a discount price.
The company has also bought incandescent disposal (IB) equipment in which the removed bulbs will be thrown into and also bulb eater to throw in expired and broken CFLs.
The CFLs procured from Phillips are touted to be of high quality with an extended operating life of 10 000 hours [five to six years, depending on usage] and a warranty of two years.
