MCA’s Phombeya substation construction on track
The Millennium Challenge Account Malawi (MCA-M), the implementing agency of a five-year $350 million (K255 billion) energy compact, has said construction of Phombeya power substation in Balaka is on track and once completed, it will boost electricity transmission.
MCA-M director of infrastructure development Felix Nkhoma said in an interview last week the substation, which will carry 400 kilovolts (kv) transmission lines, will be the base for connecting power from Cabora Bassa in Mozambique.
“Mozambique will also be a beneficiary of this project because it will be able to connect power from Phombeya to Nampula. The coal-fired power plant to be built at Kamwamba in Neno will also connect at Phombeya. The substation will also be able to sustain power from independent power producers [IPPs],” he said, during a media tour to enable journalists appreciate progress of the work.
Nkhoma said the upgrade of the power transmission lines to 400kv will reduce transmission losses from the current 23 percent to around 18 percent.
The substation, which is being constructed by an Indian firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Construction, will connect 400kv transmission lines to another substation in Nkhoma, Lilongwe, whose construction works are also underway.
L&T Construction project manager Manoj Goel said they are currently levelling the ground to construct a concrete foundation which will support the 200 mega volt amp (MVA) transformer—the biggest in Malawi.
“We are very much on course and we are committed to the project. We should be able to complete the whole project by November 2017,” he said.
Goel said by March 2017, all the equipment from India will be on site ready to be installed.
The company has created 40 jobs for Malawians.
Another Indian firm, Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited, is erecting 415 towers to connect the transmission lines to Nkhoma.
The firm’s construction manager Sagar Gandavarapu said they are expected to finish the project by September 2017. n
Under the infrastructure development project, transmission lines up to the North will be modernised. n
