State-owned power generation firm, Electricity Generation Company (Egenco), has secured funding from the African Development Bank for the rehabilitation of its Kapichira 1 and Nkula B power plants.
The work is aimed at improving reliability and availability of the plants.
It will also enable operations on the Southern Africa Power Pool interconnection power system, created to set a common market for electricity within the Southern African Development Community.
In a statement issued last week, Egenco said a feasibility study is already underway and is expected to conclude next month.
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“The objective is to give the machines a new lease of life. Egenco has recruited Fitchner, a German company, to conduct the study, which commenced last month and will inform the project’s next steps,” reads the statement.
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It says a feasibility study aims to produce tender documents for the recruitment of a contractor to rehabilitate both power stations.
According to Egenco acting Chief Executive Officer Maxon Chitawo, the current equipment at Kapichira 1 and Nkula B is obsolete, affecting the efficiency of machines.
“At Nkula B, the last machine was commissioned in 1992. At Kapichira, phase one was commissioned in the year 2000. Ideally for hydropower plants, after every 20 years at maximum, need to undergo major maintenance or overhauling to give the plants new life.
“These machines are way past those set international standard limits. It is therefore imperative for us to rehabilitate and modernise these machines as technologies across the word have changed. This will make the machine more efficient and reliable,” Chitawo said.
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He said modernising the power plants is ideal, especially with the upcoming Mozambique-Malawi interconnector project.
He said having machines that can respond better to the interconnected system is an essential requirement.
According to Chitawo, the move is in line with the company’s strategic plan to provide reliable power under key focus areas of customer and corporate citizenship.
