Escom gensets arrive in Malawi to minimise intensify of blackouts
Blantyre residents on Thursday witnessed the arrival of the much awaited Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM)’s stand – by diesel powered generators that are expected to add 78 megawatts (MW) to the country’s national power grid by January end and ease extended load shedding hours Malawians have been experiencing which Escom attributed to the decline in the water levels in Lake Malawi and the Shire River.
Escom board chairperson Perks Ligoya, who was accompanied by Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining chief director Chimwemwe Banda, Escom chief executive officer Alexxon Chiwaya and other senior Escom officials, told journalists at Zobue in Mozambique that the arrival of the gensets would contribute to the improvement of power supply by reducing blackouts, thereby improving the country’s economy.
Ligoya said by the end of January the gensets will be installed and 78 MW [megawatts] will be added to the national grid.
“All stakeholders and valued consumers shall definitely be communicated on the time frame, but the truth of the matter is that the installation will commence anytime soon so that the stand-by power mitigating measure serves its intended purpose,” Ligoya said.
According to Escom officials, out of the total 78 MW, 35 MW will be installed at Chichiri in Blantyre, 23 MW at Chinyama in Kasungu and the remaining 20 MW will be installed at Kanengo in Lilongwe.
Escom, the distributor of electricity, had messed up the procurement of generators hence the delay.
According to published reports, in December 2016, Escom’s evaluation committee recommended that lots one and two in Mapanga and Kanengo be awarded to APR energy with evaluated prices of $34.6 million and $24.9 million while lot three at Chinyama in Kasungu was recommended for award to Aggreko International Projects at $18.9 million.
However, when the bids’ evaluation team presented its report to the internal procurement committee (IPC), the recommendations were not upheld.
In November 2016, President Mutharika, as part of short-term intervention measures into the power supply crisis, told the nation that Escom would acquire diesel-operated generators on lease basis for an initial estimated period of 18 months.
But the botched transaction not only just affected electricity users, but also failed to meet one of Mutharika’s key objectives of his electricity agenda.
Malawi power generation woes moved from bad to worse last year with a loss of 20 megawatts (MW) within a week, a situation that prompted a drastic load shedding programme with some parts of the country staying without power over 24 hours.
With over 129 trucks transporting the gensets and various equipments arriving in the country on Thursday evening at Mwanza Border Post from Mozambique’s Beira Port, Malawians can now breathe a sigh of relief.
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The president, Ministers and MPs should not only receive hefty salaries, allowances and looting without getting satisfied or arrested, but they should also pay taxes so they could feel the pain poor Malawians endure by paying taxes from their little expenses.
From what I have read its pathetic that Malawians don’t want to invest into cheap sources of energy. We went to school but we are not capable to read around us. If you read you will see that solar energy, diesel powered generators are not cheap and not used. Check with developed countries, what source of energy do they use. They are rich but use cheap sources of energy.
Malawians are such a negative and bitter nation who always chose to see the negative in everything. I can’t imagine leading such a pervasive nation, no wonder your leaders end up getting fed up and start serving themselves. Its tiring to work with such confused citizens who don’t even know what they really want.
Kkkkk endeed a bunch of dunderheads. U may a whole republic excited wth diesel run gensets for electricity. Any adjustment in fuel prices will entail immediate increase in electricity tarrifs.
Thats a country that has bn independent for 53 years. Should this continue be the kind of leadership, then we have another 100 years of being rated the poorest nation on planet earth
Nothing to celebrate here. After past MCP governments added better sustainable power through hydro power plants, your wisdom all these years you have been yearning to rule Malawians by rigging elections is to buy gensets as a long term investment? These will increase diesel thefts. This shows you are brainless, spineless and perfect idiots who are not fit to lead and invest wisely on our behalf.
You just know how to steal money from these utility companies and have no plans to invest in these companies for the sake of your children after fucking your many wives bevade of too much stolen money.
You are busy leaving a legacy of gensets of such magnitude to our decent future children. Don’t you know that a 10 MW hydropower plant is worth the 70MW of genset generated power in terms of sustainability? You are DDP party headless chickens! Sukulu sikukuthandizani. ESCOM was at its best when we had proper recruitment processes and when we had white expatriates not these fucking black political appointees with no strategic ideas for ESCOM. You are just a bunch of satanists commissioned to plunder and destroy this country like devil himself.
Get those hydro plants on Mpatamanga, Lower Fufu, Kholombidzo and other on smaller rivers constructed and commissioned at the earliest possible time. Get water from Lake Malawi to the so many mountains and let the water cascade through turbines to generate electricity at zero cost to diesel.
Fuck the gensets and fuck the Kammwamba Coal Project. You are failing to mine our in coal at Kaziwiziwi and left the entire swathe of coal to an Indian who transports it himself and ask for an arm and a leg as payment. Instead you want us to be importing coal from Mozambique for generations to come? Vladimir Put in or Donald Trump would allow that kind if bullshit in their countries.
Grow up Malawians. Grow up! Grow up you state actors! Are you not ashamed and tired of stealing from govt coffers? Don’t the barefoot Malawians who voted for you not scratch your remaing vestiges of consciousness and reform your attitude for their sake?
Thumbs up to Malawi Government. The diesel gensets are the most feasible immediate solution to our problem. Lead time for construction of a hydro power plant is minimum five years.Malawians cannot wait for five years to have Mpatamanga or Kholombidzo hydro power station.Unfortunately these are also on the same shire river and what ever happens to shire river would affect them.
We plead with Government to expedite the Kamwamba hydro power plant project and the Malawi-Mozambique interconnector. These two projects are the long term solutions to our problems.South Africa is ready to provide 500mw through the Malawi Mozambique interconnector.
1000mw from Kamwamba will give us more power for the next two decades .
How many lead times have these Southern Region governments had since 1994? Assuming there was a grace period of 5 years after 1994, how many batches of 5 year lead times do you still have which could have allowed such investments to take place? The fact of the matter is that Southern Region Presidents have been busy with looting and nepotism. They can not even allow ESCOM to dredge the input ponds to remove silt because of frequent deferment of such budgets as politicians were eying the same money to enrich themselves through over and mis-procuremens of goods and services at the parastatal.
If we had two or three power plants on the same river, wouldn’t we still draw some power albeit at low capacity than having none of these investments. What we need to do is to fully exhaust all sites on this river into hydro power sites. The same flow that leaves one plant will spin the rest of the others in linear order.
If I may ask, why is Zomba dam not given a mini hydro plant? There is already already a natural head to harness power generation.
So don’t ever talk about lead times here when these Southern Region crooks have botched up so many lead times since multi party started in 1994. Find other excuses on their behalf. This isn’t sticking.
Asamundu ndi amene adabweretsa chitukuko chamagetse oyendera mphamvu ya madzi, osati MCP. Muzilitsat ndi kulidziwa ziko lanu
Mbuzi iwe
You are right that some of those were installed by colonialists but MCP had also investments on the same Shire river. Whether that was not indicated in my comment does not solve the current problem. After 1994 the so called Democrats who took over from MCP never appreciated the need for continous investments in hydro, solar, coal and wind power. And these are greedy and very corrupt nepotistic Southern Region Presidents who with their tribesmen stood on podia and said ZINTHU ZATANI?. Or have this simple and childish slogan for the lack of creative thinking: DDP WOYEEEEE! I later realised these were passwords to stealing and plundering government coffers while entrenching tribalism, regionalism and nepotism.
Absolutely right ! They had gas turbine generator was operating by diesel in perfect working condition was stand by for Blantyre are bought by me as scrap through tender upon asking what was the reason for selling? They said too costly to run ! Hello ? How you going to run this new Generator arrived ? With water ?
The difference will be the same as the poor will still be in the dark for their inability to pay for high tariff of electricity brought about by the gen sets. This is just another political gimmick and not to make Malawi prosper. The Ministers and MPs should now be paying tax so they can feel the way we do.
Investing in solar energy is far much better and cheaper for consumers than this. This is a temporary fix, think long term. Mbuzi zokhazokha!
The sun is a powerful force, and one most people take for granted. Every day, like clockwork, the sun rises and falls – without fail. As the earth orbits the sun, the light and energy released by this giant ball of gas fall onto earth and light the land.Without the sun’s light, all living things on earth would eventually cease to exist. Luckily, however, scientists predict that the sun will last at least another few billion years. Because it is a nearly endless source of energy, and shines naturally every day, solar energy is the perfect replacement for current energy sources.
The most popular method of harvesting sunlight for energy is solar farming, and it is quickly becoming one of the most preferred new investments for companies and independent investors. Of course there are solar farms pros and cons. While scientists have made many a break-through in solar energy over the last several years, it will take more research and testing to reach maximum efficiency. Anyone consider making an investment in solar energy should take time to better understand solar farms pros and cons prior to making their decision.
In order to better understand solar farms pros and cons, here is a simple list:
Pros:
Renewable – The sun will not burn out for billions of years, regardless of how much solar energy the earth consumes. In fact, harnessing this energy does not affect the output of the sun in the least. Unlike coal, sunlight is not depleted by this farming.
No Carbon Emissions – In order to produce enough energy for all of the applications used by humans on a daily basis, there is a great deal of waste. In fact, over 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere each year. However, by replacing this method with solar power, there would be no carbon emissions at all.
Low Maintenance – Other than routine maintenance to make sure all machinery and systems are working efficiently, there is virtually no maintenance required to harness solar energy through photovoltaics.
Tax Incentive Plans – Currently, the federal government offers tax credits and other incentives to companies and individuals who invest in alternative sources of energy – such as solar farms.
Available Worldwide – The sun shines everywhere, which means solar energy is not limited to one particular location like many other energy sources.
Cons:
Land Space – In order to produce enough energy for most power grids, solar farms need to use thousands of panels. This can take up quite a bit of land area.
Shade/Clouds Affect Output – When sunlight is limited due to excess shade or heavy cloud cover, this affects the amount of energy produced.
Aesthetics – Some people feel that solar energy fields are unattractive and can take away from the natural look of the land.
Expensive to Start – Start up solar farm costs are relatively high. However, there are many incentive programs to offset these costs.
Like any other energy option, there are numerous solar farms pros and cons. Luckily, however, most of these pros outweigh the cons. Before investing in a solar farm, weigh the solar farms pros and cons – but remember that, over time, these cons will be diminished as the technology improves
Mbuyomu mwakhala mukunyoza kumanena kuti boma lalephera. Lero ma genset ndi awa abwera. Bwanji manyazi anthu inu omangotsutsa zili zonse. Amabungwe tsutsanitu apa popeza palibe chabwino chomwe mumayamikira. Keep on delivering the promises APM. We are proud of you
I have never seen such a bunch of jokers . So the whole ESCOM chairman, recycled CEO Chiwaya, and very senior government officials had to go to Zobue to ” welcome ” gen sets ?
kkkkkkkk
I bet they claimed allowances for that. ………. So pathetic you mean they had to roll a red carpet for gensets????
Kikikikkk sure,to them it’s a great achievement but with no resultant.
This is retrogressive development. Nothing exciting. Consumers will pay a lot to have lights. Expensive!!!!
Good news indeed.
Nice Move.
Living by promises. Wakwiya wakwiya basi…. hiyaaa a
You not breath relieaf.. Get ready to dip deeper in ur pockets.. As this is temporary measure.. Escom & govt shd learn to invest in reliable and sustainable sources of energy..