Malawi is racing to reduce a supply deficit that could top 150MW next year. The country experienced a nationwide blackout in early March after the 130MW Kapichira and 36MW Nkula A hydropower plants had to be switched off to reduce the risk of damage due to flooding. Daily load-shedding has been made worse by a substantial reduction in water levels at Lake Malawi, which affects hydropower projects on the Shire River. The country currently runs 78MW of rented diesel capacity to reduce the supply deficit at a cost of around $0.42/kWh, exacerbating the impact of below-cost tariffs.

Read the full article, published in African Energy, Issue 388, 14 March 2019. It draws on African Energy Live Data and includes two charts illustrating the country’s installed capacity and generation mix trend from 2010-2022.

Our sixth annual Africa Investment Exchange: Power & Renewables meeting will be held at RSA House in London on 13-14 November.