- Mozambique details the plan to secure the 1.15GW of hydropower it sells to South Africa from its Cahora Bassa plant for its use.
- The 2.1GW plant sends electricity along 1,400km of transmission lines to Eskom, which then sells power to Mozal.
Mozambique plans to end hydropower supply to Eskom. This is raising risks for South Africa’s economy and threatening the viability of Africa’s second-biggest aluminium smelter. In the country’s yet-to-be-published energy transition strategy, Mozambique details the plan to secure the 1.15GW of power it sells to South Africa from its Cahora Bassa plant for its use. The government said in the strategy document that the main short-term hydro priority is the repatriation of electricity from Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa, which is currently exported to South Africa, when the contract ends on December 31, 2030.
The decision creates a problem for South Africa, battling power cuts that are holding back economic growth, and South32, which operates the Mozal aluminium smelter near Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, but uses electricity bought from Eskom. South32 needs about 900MW of electricity for Mozal’s output of aluminium, which the company markets as having been made with clean energy.
Mozal produced 345,000 tons last year but cannot get a direct power supply from Cahora Bassa because Mozambique’s grid is not linked nationally. Instead, the 2.1GW plant, Africa’s third biggest for hydropower, sends electricity along 1,400km of transmission lines to Eskom in South Africa, which then sells power to Mozal. The sales arrangement has been in place since 1979 when the last of the turbines was completed.