Govt courts Vale on coal for Neno power plant
The Malawi Government is negotiating with Brazilian mining firm Vale Logistics for it to be supplying coal for Kam’mwamba Coal-fired Power Plant in Neno, which will be constructed with funding from China.
The 300-megawatts (MW) project is estimated to cost $667.2 million (about K372 billion) and will be built by China Gezhouba Group Company Limited for three years to increase power generating capacity for Malawi, currently at 351.71MW.
Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining director of energy Joseph Kalowekamo said in an interview last week government intends to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vale once negotiations are successful.
“We feel it will be easy for us to buy coal from Moatize in Mozambique via the company,” he said.
Vale is the owner of the rail line which passes through the Southern Region from Kachasu in Chikwawa to Nkaya in Balaka, connecting to the deep sea port of Nacala in Mozambique. The rail line is expected to reduce the cost of hauling coal grains from Moatize to Malawi.
Kalowekamo said government has opted for Mozambique to take advantage of the railway line which is about 160 kilometres (km) to Mozambique as compared to Mchenga Coal Mine in Rumphi, a distance of about 500 km.
“We are looking at the sustainability factor [because] we need a constant supply of coal since unlike a hydro-power plant, which can be switched on and off, a coal-fired plant cannot be switched off,” he explained.
Kalowekamo said the plant, which will be using 3 134 metric tonnes (MT) of coal per day, shall be operating for 20 hours a day once it is commissioned.
“We have six units of generating machines for the project with a 50 megawatt capacity for each machine. For each hour, each machine shall be operational [and] it will require 26.2 metric tonnes of coal. This means that in a day, each machine would require 524 metric tonnes of coal,” he said.
Kalowekamo said the option of coal from Mozambique is an economical measure.
