Malawi is undertaking several feasibility studies for electricity interconnectors with neighbouring countries as it moves to offset its electricity deficit.

Joseph Kalowekamo, energy affairs spokes-person at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, says the interconnector projects at feasibility study stage include the first phase of the 400 kV Mozambique–Malawi interconnector, which will run from Phombeya, in Malawi, to Tete, in Mozambique.

“If all goes well, the project will be commis-sioned in 2018. Electricidade de Moçambique, the power utility in Mozambique, has committed to supplying 50 MW to Malawi. The World Bank is funding this Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) project.”

The Bretton Wood institution is also financing the feasibility study for the 400 kV Malawi–Tanzania interconnector, which will run from Nkhoma, in Malawi, to Tanzania through Songwe. The Malawi–Tanzania link will interconnect the SAPP with the Eastern African Power Pool, making Malawi a key player in African power trade.

“This project is linked to the Songwe hydro- power project, which Malawi wants to imple-ment in partnership with [Tanzania],” says Kalowekamo.

He adds that, in 2015, Malawi and Zambia signed a memorandum of understanding pertaining to the construction of an intercon-nector linking the power grids of the two countries. The World Bank, through the Energy Sector Support Project, is also financing the feasibility study for the interconnector, a 330 kV power line that will run from Chipata, in Zambia, to Nkhoma, in Malawi.

Further interconnectors, currently at concept stage, are also planned. These include a 400 kV second-phase interconnection between Malawi and Mozambique – from Phombeya, in Malawi, to Mozambique’s Nampula province. “This project will enable Malawi to wheel power from Mozambique . . . It will also open the door for exports to regional markets in times of excess power supply,” says Kalowekamo.

Malawi also plans to upgrade the existing power line that runs from the border town of Lundazi, in Zambia, to Chikangawa, in Malawi.

The former British colony’s installed electricity generation capacity is 351.75 MW, compared with peak demand of 400 MW, which is expected increase to 1 000 MW by 2020. The country’s power utility, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, attributes the prevailing power supply constraints to ageing generation and transmission and distribution infrastructure, as well as falling water levels in the Shire river, where up to 98% of the country’s electricity is generated, owing to drought.

The low electricity access rate in Malawi, pegged at 9.8% as of August last year, has created overdependence on traditional biomass, which meets 85% of energy needs.