Escom says debris caused blackout
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has said the power loss that occurred on Friday January 31 night was due to debris and thrash in its system which was as a result of heavy rains.
In a press statement published in The Nation on Monday, the power supplier has said that the loss of power that occurred around 19.00 hours was due to a technical fault that developed at Kapichira machine number two following a cooling system failure caused by excessive trash and debris that blocked the intake as a result of excessive rainfall. This, Escom has said, led to a total system shut down.
Recently, Escom commissioned Kapichira Phase Two which added about 64 megawatts to national power grid. Currently, Kapichira Power Station has four machines and a total capacity of 128 megawatts. Escom’s total power capacity is estimated at 351 megawatts.
According to the power supplier, Malawi has an estimated power demand of 350 megawatts however experts have said the actual demand may be above 1 000 megawatts.
Other companies including mining companies and households are yet to be connected to the national grid which will increase the country’s power demand.
Government recently said a total of 21 trading rural centres are being electrified which will increase access which will inevitably increase demand.
To manage demand Escom embarked on an energy saver bulbs distribution which according to Chingota cut the country’s demand by 40 megawatts
The Malawi Institution of Engineers (MIE) earlier said the country will enjoy a stint of adequate power supply due to the commissioning of the power plant at Kapichira before slipping back to an energy deficit.
Former MIE president Matthews Mtumbuka then noted that although Malawi would achieve a major milestone on closing the power demand-supply deficit in 2013, the joy would be short-lived due to an increase in demand.
He noted that mining companies which consume a lot of electricity and are using other sources of energy including diesel would like to connect to Escom power grid.
He also added that technically, Malawi is supposed to have some spinning reserve—an excess generation capacity to cover for eventualities like faults on machines.
What about the Thermo Plant being planned at Kammwamba or somehwere there? I though the Government said work would start soon. It would be good if the report and Dr Mtumbuka’s response were also highlighting such initiatives which would in turn provide a more sustainable power supply.