By Yamikani Yapuwa, MANA
Electricity Generation Company (Malawi) Limited (EGENCO) says the country should expect full power generation by the end of March this year (2020) as it is still working on faulty machines at Kapichira Power Station.
According to a press statement issued on Tuesday, currently, three out of four machines at the power station have broken down with different technical problems.
“Our engineers and technicians are working tirelessly to resolve the faults. One machine is expected to be back online by Wednesday (February, 26) to bring back 32MW into the system.
“The remaining two machines are expected back online by mid-March and end March, 2020 because we are waiting for spare parts which were sent for in Europe and South Africa,” reads the statement.
EGENCO said the machines at Mapanga have also developed problems of power flashover and failure of machine synchronisation to ESCOM grid.
“Our team is also working to resolve these problems and the expectation is that four machines will be available by Friday, 28 February. The remaining will be available by the first week of March.
“Meanwhile, our eight of the ten generators at Kanengo are running to supplement the hydropower generation capacity and supplying to ESCOM grid,” said the statement.
Over the weekend, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) said it had effected a four and half-hour emergency load shedding from February 24.
In its notice to the public, ESCOM said the load shedding is due to their major supplier, EGENCO still working on most of its machines at Kapichira Power Station and diesel generators at Mapanga and Kanengo.
“As such, the system cannot satisfy the whole demand resulting into the power rationing,” said ESCOM.
Meanwhile, EGENCO has assured the public that every effort is being made to ensure the machines are back online as soon as possible.
