Africa-Press – Mozambique. Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), Mozambique’s main source of electricity for domestic consumption and export, recorded production in the first nine months of the year 6 percent below that recorded in 2020, the company announced.
By the end of the third quarter, power production reached 10,899.79 GWh, after in the same period of 2020 it stood at 11,602.31 GWh.
Despite the drop, HCB said that the figure is 5.5% above what it had planned to produce in a year for which a reduction in electricity production was already anticipated.
The latest activity report detailed that due to deferred maintenance activities in 2020 because of Covid-19, this year’s annual production target is 14,125.53 GWh, about 8% below last year’s 15,350 GWh.
The reservoir ended the third quarter of 2021 with a quota of 324.29 metres – corresponding to a useful volume stored of 91.4% – and the goal is to carry out discharges to go down to 320.80 metres by the end of the year, announced in the same statement.
That level should ensure “fitting capacity” for the rainy season and compliance with the dam’s operating standards.
Located on the Zambezi River, in the province of Tete, central Mozambique, the Cahora Bassa dam supplies South Africa and southern Mozambique with annual production that in 2020 was 4.7 percent higher than in 2019.
The company has an ongoing modernisation plan that provides for investments in the dam, generation plant, Songo and Matambo substations and the power transmission lines, aimed at increasing technical and operational reliability.
The Mozambican state holds 85% of HCB’s shares, 7.5% belong to the Portuguese national energy grid (REN) and 4% are held by national investors, with the remaining 3.5% held by HCB itself.
