Malawi must urgently shift from showcasing promising energy technologies to deploying them at scale if it is to reduce its dependency on biomass, expand electricity access, and build a resilient energy future, researchers, government officials, and private-sector innovators have said.
The call comes as pressure mounts on the national grid, deforestation accelerates and the cost of diesel-based back-up systems continues to price out both households and businesses.
Experts warn that without deliberate investment and policy alignment, Malawi risks remaining stuck in a cycle where innovation exists but impact does not.
Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Ishmael Kosamu said the country’s core weakness is not a shortage of innovation, but the slow translation of laboratory research into real-world energy solutions.
don’t maintain them. | Eric Mtemang’ombe
“These technologies can transform rural energy access, but only if we move beyond pilots,” he said. “Malawi cannot solve its energy crisis through grid expansion alone. We must scale what we are developing locally.”
Through the Africa–Norway Energy Technology Network, universities across Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Norway have jointly developed low-cost clean cooking systems, hybrid wind–solar mini-grids and heat-storage cookers designed to replace firewood. The technologies are engineered for off-grid communities that rely almost entirely on biomass.
Professor Ole Jørgen Nydal of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology said the partnership has now moved from design to deployment readiness.
“We have solar heat storage cookers that can store daytime energy for evening use,” he said. “They are simple, affordable and locally manufacturable. The next step is institutional rollout—in schools, clinics and community centres—before household adaptation.”
Government officials acknowledge that past renewable projects failed because they depended on imported spare parts or lacked technicians to repair them. Off-Grid Electrification Deputy Director Saidi Banda said the ministry is now rebuilding the system from the ground up.
“We are diversifying energy sources and strengthening local technical capacity,” he said. “Technologies fail not because they are bad, but because we cannot maintain them. We want that to change.”
Private innovators say financing remains the single biggest barrier. Green Impact Technologies Managing Director Admore Chiumia said interest rates near 35 percent make expansion impossible.
“With borrowing costs this high, no renewable firm can invest in equipment,” he said. “We need patient capital—flexible financing that lets companies grow without collapsing under debt.”
Across academia, industry and government, the message is consistent: Malawi cannot keep relying on charcoal, unreliable grid power and high-cost generators. The ideas already exist. What is missing is the scale, financing and policy consistency to turn local innovation into nationwide energy access.
Without decisive action, experts warn, Malawi risks celebrating potential while households and schools continue cooking with charcoal and studying in the dark.
