GDP Capital plans to develop coal-fired power plant in Karonga
The GDP Capital and Minerals Group has plans to develop and invest in a 50Mgwc oal-fired power plant in Karonga , the northern border district of Malawi, scheduled to commence once all regulatory approvals have been granted.
The announcement follows the establishment of Africa Energy and Power African (Malawi) LTD (AEP) in 2019, a subsidiary of GDP Capital and Minerals (Malawi) LTD, dedicated at developing energy solutions in Malawi with a particular focus on power generation from coal and the distribution of liquid fuels in Malawi.
Speaking in an interviewwith Nyasa Times from their base in South Africa, the Group founder and executive chairman, Lumbani Mbale said he is excited and geared to become an active player in the country’s mining and energy sector.
“GDP Capital and Minerals Ltd exists to provide sustainable and innovative mining and energy solutions to the Malawian population with the view to meaningfully contribute to Malawi’s economic development and maximize shareholder value,” added Mbale.
“As an emerging exploration and mining company in Malawi, our mission is aligned to The National Energy Policy of Malawi (2018) and the Energy Action Agenda for 2030 (2017) which envisions 30% access to the energy grid by 2030.
“We have observed that overreliance on hydropower which is currently Malawi’s major source of electricity is negatively affecting the reliability of the electricity supply due to the fluctuating hydrological trends.”
Mbale said in order to affectively achieve the envisioned increasing of access to the electricity grid in Malawi, there is need to diversify power generation from hydro to coal.
“ The gap in the energy sector is enormous and our company has deemed it imperative to seize this opportunity,” he said.
Once operational, the company projects an annual sales volume of up to 416,000 MWh with a capacity factor of about 95%.
“We have meanwhile engaged the Malawi Department of Energy Affairs and the newly established Power Market Limited (PML) a possible Power Purchase Agreement,” said Mbale.
According to the company’s Exploration Geologist Daniel Kilembe, GDP Capital and Minerals has already secured over 100 Million Tons of potential coal reserves held in various exploration rights in Malawi and Northern Zambia, covering approximately 2500 Square kilometers in total.
GDP Capital and Minerals (Malawi) Ltd is part of the GDP Capital abd Minerals Group (South Africa) whose primary business is exploration and mining of coal and copper in Malawi and Zambia.
The company has offices in South Africa, Malawi and Zambia and its main exploration targets are the coal reserves in the Wenya-Nthalire, Mwankenja North, Lufira and Mpangala Coal Fields in Malawi and Zambia respectively.
The Coal power plant project will be funded with the assistance of the group’s various strategic equity partners in South Africa.
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I would advise against that as the carbon footprint for coal is very high, this is 2020 we have lots of sunlight (solar) and water falls (hydro) in the North. We don’t need more environmental hazardous projects. The power plant idea is good but i think coal is an ancient and hazardous technology to both humans and the environment.
Zayambika zikatero! Bwelan! Tikudziwa kuti mwadziwa kuti Malawi is now in the hands of proper people! Tidzakusamalirani bwino.
The headline says it all, so I am not holding my breath: “GDP Capital PLANS to develop … ”
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Is that meant to be 50 MW in the opening sentence? If so, that is a pathetically small output, and likely to be uneconomic. Is it meant to be 500 MW?
This is not the time to polute our environment with coal. There are many sources of energy, hydro, solar, thermo, wind. Let’s tap into these sources. See what coal did to Johannesburg. We don’t want that here. Thank you