Chakwera earmarks 32,325 households for free electricity connection 

President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera says his administration is set to connect free electricity to 32,325 households country-wide under Ndawala Initiative through the Rural Electrification Fund (REF).

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the opening of the 1st meeting of the 50th Session of Parliament and the 2023/2024 budget meeting in Lilongwe on Friday, 17 February 2023, Chakwera announced that government is also set to connect 30,325 low – income households to the nation grid.

Said the president, “We are also increasing access to electricity through grid connection of 180,000 ESCOM customers under the World Bank-funded Malawi Electricity Access Project (MEAP) to be completed next year as well as the construction of 16 mini-grids under MEAP, MAREP, the UNDP supported Access to Clean and Renewable Energy (ACRE) project, which will connect 200,000 off-grid customers by next year as well.”

Chakwera said his top priority is the provision of reliable electricity for Malawians. He explained that though his efforts suffered a major setback this past year when power supply was destroyed by tropical storms, his administration is working to rectify the situation.

He added that although the deadline to restore the Kapichira Power Plant by the end of the last quarter of 2022 was missed due to concerns for the environment, engineers are on target to restore partial generation of power from the plant by the end of this quarter.

The president also expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far on the Mozambique – Malawi electricity interconnector project.

“Meanwhile, the Mozambique – Malawi Interconnector Project which will allow us to import and export power to the Southern African Power Pool is now finally underway, with construction having begun in November 2022. Even more encouraging is the fact that in June 2022, we commissioned the 20 Megawatts Golomoti Power Station with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS),” explained Chakwera.

“We also secured a 25-million-dollar financing agreement to enable Golomoti Solar to capitalize this investment in solar power generation, as well as similar agreements with Elsewedy and AMEA Power. Similarly, the construction of the 21 Megawatts Serengeti Solar Power Station in Nkhotakota is near completion and will be commissioned in the coming weeks.”