Government wary of renewable energy losses

Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has said renewable energy offers Africa and Malawi in particular, an opportunity to innovate and deliver energy access to its people, but there is need to address storage and distribution losses.

He made the remarks during a session on ‘Harnessing Africa’s renewable energy potential’ held at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya where president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina made a keynote address.

“Renewable energy is the only way to go; but we need innovative measures for storage to address transmission and distribution losses,” said Matola.

According to the AfDB, reports indicate that electricity losses in Africa during distribution and transmission amount to $5 billion annually.

On his part, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Geapp) chief executive officer Simon Harford reiterated his organisation’s commitment to support African governments as they embed renewable energy at the core of their development endeavours.

He said: “If countries are to go for renewal energy in large-scale, they need large-scale storage. This will contribute to addressing energy poverty.”

As part of the meetings in Kenya, the Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has signed a pact with Geothermal Development Company (GDC) as a Collaboration Framework Agreement (CFA) on execution of geothermal projects in Malawi.

A statement from GDC said the CFA will tackle three broad areas namely, technical assistance that includes provision geo-scientific studies services, support in institutional framework development and resource mobilisation.

GDC managing director and chief executive officer Paul Ngugi said they have agreed to help accelerate the development of geothermal energy in Malawi.

“This is an important milestone for our two entities as we seek energy solutions for Africa. GDC is honoured to be your partner of choice as you embark on this exciting journey of developing your geothermal resources.

“Our brand is improving. We’re getting more stakeholders who want to do business with us. On this Malawi CFA, it is a moment of celebration for GDC,” he said.

On his part, Egenco CEO William Liabunya, who confirmed the development in a short response through WhatsApp, expressed excitement with the development.

“It’s new beginnings for Malawi. We are happy to collaborate with GDC as we seek to diversify our energy sources,” he said.

Earlier, Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi (Reiama) president Soustain Chigalu observed that there is need to find quick solutions to generate more power to supply to the country.

“By 2030, we want everyone in Malawi to have access to electricity and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, Reiama and Egenco must also do their part,” said Chigalu.

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