Kapichira rehab completion to delay

Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) says efforts to restore Kapichira Hydro Power Station in Chikwawa, which was damaged last year, will delay by one week or more due to the impact of Cyclone Freddy.

In a written response last week, Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza said they had planned to start power generation by the end of this quarter, but the impact of the cyclone two weeks ago stalled rehabilitation works.

He said: “We suspended work for almost a week. We could not work during the rainy days.

“However, all the structures are intact and, as we speak, we have resumed work. There is no significant effect on the Kapichira rehabilitation budget since no structures have been damaged by the cyclone.”
Gwaza further assured that Egenco has made good progress on the rehabilitation works and was upbeat that power generation might resume in April 2023.
“We want to assure the public that Kapichira Power Station will be back soon and we will start with half capacity generation. We will continue to build back while we are generating so that we can further increase the generation capacity for the station,” he said.

However, Malawi University of Science and Technology energy sciences lecturer John Taulo expressed doubt that Kapachira will be operational by April.
He said: “I have been to Kapichira. Egenco is under pressure. It is meeting a lot of challenges. Excavation is a big issue and even civil engineering takes a lot of time.”

Taulo further said the delay has a serious impact on the economy in terms of industrial output as most businesses are not able to operate normally due to electricity rationing.

“Cost of production is going high as most companies are running on diesel generators. There is also an environmental impact because without dependable power, people are being forced to use traditional sources of fuel such as charcoal or firewood,” said Taulo.

Last year, Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) also said the power blackouts are affecting the manufacturing industry, which they estimated was spending K260 million per day, translating to K95.6 billion annually to run diesel-powered generators during outages.

Kapichira Power Station, which supplies about 129.6 megawatts (MW) to the national grid, suffered extensive damage, particularly at its dam following the flooding of the Shire River due to Tropical Storm Ana in January 2022.
The situation forced Egenco to shut down the station, leading to electricity challenges in the country.

Currently, the main source of electricity in Malawi is hydro-power, which generates nearly 90 percent of the power.
But in the absence of Kapichira, Malawians are being subjected to extended hours of load shedding.

Tropical Cyclone Freddy also affected power generation, worsening the already challenging power supply status.
Egenco’s estimated total hydro power generation is at 390MW.