Moz power project to add 120 MW

Construction works for the 218-kilometre (km) 400 kilovolts (kV) high voltage transmission line under the Malawi-Mozambique (Moma) Power Transmission Interconnection Project is expected to be completed by October this year.

The contractor JV Sinohydro health, safety and environment (HSE) site manager Pattison Muchochoma disclosed this after Malawi Consular General in Tete, Happy Saka, toured the construction works at Matambo substation to appreciate progress.

Muchochoma said more than 80 percent of the works has been completed and the contractors are in the final phase before the substation is switched on.

The $154 million project funded by the World Bank, the German Bank, KfW and the European Bank, is aimed at establishing a transmission link between Malawi and Mozambique and is expected to add about 120 mega watts (MW) to the country’s national grid.

“We are now working on steel structures, thereafter we will go into electrical installation which is the final phase. Once the electrical installation is done we will fix the cables that will connect power from here at Matambo to Phombeya in Malawi,” Muchochoma explained.

The HSE manager said they were mindful of the significance of the project to the two countries as such they will ensure it is completed as projected.

Among others, the contractors have already mounted the transformers and towers and are now working on the central control centre.

On his part, while describing the construction progress as encouraging, Saka said successful completion of the project was key to ensuring an improved and stable power supply in Malawi.

He observed that the construction of the Mozambique-Malawi Interconnector, the country’s march towards adding 1 000MW to the country’s national grid, was making steady progress.

Initially, it was anticipated that Malawi will be tapping 50MW from Mozambique but that has now been adjusted to 120MW.

Said Saka: “This project marks the beginning of a new chapter in as far as electricity supply is concerned in Malawi. Once switched on blackouts will be history. In fact, this project will contribute greatly not only to our country’s economic growth but to the region as a whole since it will enable industrialisation and job creation.”

The transmission line, whose work will be done in two phases, will start from Matambo in Mozambique and cross into Malawi through Mwanza and Neno up to Phombeya power sub-station in Balaka.

The first phase will cover 141 km from Matambo to Zobue then 77km from Zobue to Phombeya.

Mozambique and Malawi agreed to interconnect their power systems with the objective to contribute to the interconnection of the Malawian electrical network to the Southern African Power Pool.

President Lazarus Chakwera and his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Jacinto Nyusi launched the Moma project in November, 2021 at Phombeya.