- Malawi’s Kapichira hydropower plant to be restored.
The President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, has announced the support received from the World Bank to rehabilitate the damaged Kapichira hydropower plant. The country secured a $60 million (K60 billion) soft loan from the World bank.
According to him, Kapachira was damaged and lost 135MW due to Tropical Storm Anna forcing the country to resort to load-shedding. He disclosed this at the commissioning of the 20 MW Golomoti Solar Project, which uses a battery storage system. Chakwera said the rehabilitation of Kapichira is critical because it will ensure that the country stays focused on reaching the target of having 1000MW supplied to the grid within the next three years.
Chakwera also instructed the Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola, to urgently resolve all government bureaucracy that will hinder the Independent Power Producers (IPP) from project implementation.
Minister of Energy, Matola, urged the IPPs to speed up their processes within two to three weeks.” With consultation from the Attorney General (AG), we will cancel all contracts that do not show interest in investing in the sector,” he said.