By Deogratias Mmana
Africa-Press – Malawi. The government has failed to roll out the much-touted 300MW Kammwamba coal-fired power plant in Neno District 12 years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese company called China Gezhouba Group of China Energy Engineering Corporation.
Even then, the future remains in the balance.
The agreement between the Chinese firm and the government signed in 2013 for a power station of up to 1,000 MW, meant the first phase would be the 300 MW plant.
The plan was that the plant would use about 400,000 tonnes of coal annually from Moatize in Mozambique.
The coal would be transported through rail line that was being constructed by Vale.
Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) said the project was expected to be completed by 2024 after securing financing.
Egenco said on its website that a feasibility study which started in August 2019 was expected to be completed by September 2021.
The study looked at two components which comprised updating of a previous techno-economic feasibility study and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and local coal resource exploration.
“Upon completion of the feasibility study, Egenco shall embark on seeking project financing. The project will take about three years to complete after reaching financial closure. The project is in line with Egenco’s diversification objectives where the company seeks to improve its power generation mix from being 95 percent hydro-based to 76 percent hydro-based in 5 years,” Egenco said.
Alfonso ChikuniPrincipal Secretary for the Ministry of Energy Alfonso Chikuni said Friday that the government has not given up on the project.
He, however, accused Egenco of lacking cooperation.
He said the ministry planned to take over the project and implement it under Independent Power Producer (IPP) model.
It requested Egenco to submit the feasibility study report but now it is two years without response from the institution.
“Since then, we haven’t heard anything. Ask them what they have done,” Chikuni said.
According to Chikuni, a company that was created to run the implementation of the project but was also disbanded in 2022.
He said coal offers cheaper energy than hydropower.
Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza asked for more time to respond to our questionnaire.
In October 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Egenco were locked in an ownership battle over the project, according to Global Energy Monitor.
The ministry had sent a letter to Egenco in May 2023, instructing the company to hand over the project to the government within 13 days.
The government was reportedly concerned about the project’s lack of progress for the past 10 years then and wanted to give it to other independent power producers (IPPs) and “fast-track” its implementation.
Egenco reportedly defied the order.
Chronology of events
According to the Global Energy Monitor wiki, in September 2019, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) advised Egenco to speed up the building of the Kam’mwamba Coal Plant.
Egenco confirmed in February 2022 that the site’s feasibility study and environmental and social impact assessment was completed and that the project was still seeking financial and construction partners and was given an updated commission date of 2025.
Egenco said it had written the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) to engage an interested investor.
In July 2024, government published a 10-year Implementation Plan that included the Kamwamba power station in a list of energy projects.
According to Global Energy Monitor, in January 2018, the Export and Import (Exim) Bank of China agreed to fund the project to the tune of $667 million and that the government of Malawi was required to source US$104 million as a commitment fee.
Source: The Times Group
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