Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (Egenco) says construction works to add 18 megawatts (MW) to Tedzani Hydro Power Station in Chikwawa is on course, raising hopes of increased power supply next year.
Egenco senior public relations officer Moses Gwaza said in an interview on Sunday that there is a strong indication that construction may be completed by February next year although its initial completion is September 2021.
He said: “So far, 84 percent of the works have been completed. Currently, the contractor is finalising power house civil works and continuing spiral case and turbine installations.
“There is an indication that if the coronavirus situation improves and that equipment start flowing into the country smoothly, the project may be completed way ahead of time.”
Currently, the main source of electricity in Malawi is hydro-power which generates nearly 90 percent of the power.
Tedzani IV Power Station is being built with a $52 million (about K38.6 billion) Grant Assistance obtained from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency with Egenco contributing $4.8 million (about (K3.5 billion).
Tedzani IV Hydro-electric Power Plant, being constructed by Japanese firm Mitsubishi Corporations, comes at a time Malawi is facing acute power supply challenges with generation capacity reduced to around 200MW from the installed capacity of 351MW.
