Mining & Trade News

Following the launch of a national cleanup campaign by President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the Ministry of Energy plans to boost energy production in the country by promoting recycling of wastes into various forms of energy.

The energy ministry says the launch will help put in place waste management systems that support use of biomass for household and industrial productions.

Spokesperson for the Ministry, Saidi Banda, says the ministry is in the process of reviewing its Strategic Plan to reflect new developments in line with the Energy Policy 2018 and the Malawi Renewable Energy Strategy 2017.

“The ministry will facilitate processes to remove taxes on waste-to-energy production equipment. It will also facilitate trainings for small entrepreneurs and youth groups among others,” he explains adding that the initiative gives Malawians an opportunity to convert garbage from landfills into raw material for renewable energy like biogas, electricity and briquettes.

Banda says the ministry is currently encouraging companies to start generating power from waste in an effort to reduce the amount of waste the country produces.

A UN report reveals that one-third of the food produced world-wide every year is lost or wasted. In Malawi, it is reported that fresh food waste is a major health and urban management problem, especially in open-air markets which produce a great deal of waste.

Meanwhile, as the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set targets to reduce the amount of food waste by half, Blantyre City Council transports organic wastes like over-ripe tomatoes, banana peels and cabbage leaves which are generated each day from the city’s open markets to turn it into organic compost which is later sold to farmers and gardeners.

President Chakwera introduced the National Cleanup Day campaign with an aim of curbing littering and to promoting cleanliness and safe environments.

Persistent power blackouts due to Malawi’s insufficient electricity supply, has compelled government to diversify energy sources from hydro-power to include solar, wind energy, coal fired energy sources and the power interconnection to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

Currently, Malawi generates about 250MW of hydro power while the suppressed demand is 351MW. The unmet electricity need does not account for the majority of Malawians who are not yet connected to the electricity grid.

53 per cent of Malawi’s population live below the poverty line and just 10 percent of the country is connected to the national grid with heavy load shedding schedules.

Intermittent power supply has significantly reduced the country’s industrial production rate.

According to Saidi Banda, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, several companies are set to start complimenting the hydro power supply by producing and supplying solar energy across the country.

“JCM is currently planting equipment in Salima and will serve the country with almost 70 megawatts of solar energy,” says Banda adding that another company is setting up operations in Nkhotakota while others who have also signed power purchase agreements with government will be rolling out in other areas soon.

Meanwhile, EGENCO, a body assigned to be producing electricity in the country, has recently switched on solar energy to power Likoma and Chizumulu Islands on Lake Malawi.

According to the 2019 World Bank report, Malawi has abundant untapped solar potential, with an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine per year.

Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi (REIAMA) has advised the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) to avoid the use of untreated poles for high voltage transmission lines.

REIAMA President Andrew Nkoloma said in a Press Release that his association has observed that some poles used under Rural Electrification projects are not to the acceptable standard to carry high voltage power lines as they are not well treated and strong enough to carry high voltage (HV) lines.

Nkoloma cited an incident that happened in Chiradzulu at Malele village, T/A Kadwere where a fallen pole carrying 11kV lines to Nsoni area was spotted with lines almost blocking the road.  He said a closer look at the pole revealed that it was eaten up by termites all inside but, apparently, the line is less than five years old.

“REIAMA has found this hazardous to the general public and immediate attention needs to be taken by ESCOM and any relevant authority,” he said.

Nkoloma urged players in the industry to urgently address the issue of substandard and not well treated poles, which was also raised by Minister of Energy Newton Kambala when he visited RAIPLY Limited.

He said: “REIAMA suggests that inspectors from Malawi Bureau of Standards and Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) visit timber processing plants and certify the wood treatment processes for HV poles. Existing power lines must be inspected and certified fit to continue carrying HV lines.”

 “Any sub-standard and not properly treated poles in use must be replaced, every production batch of locally treated poles must be inspected and certified, and finally a toll-free phone number must be made available to the general public for reporting any such faults.”

Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi (REIAMA) is a membership association of players in Renewable Energy Industry in Malawi. One of their mandate is to provide a conducive environment for businesses and all players plying their trade in the technologies while at the same time protecting the consumer and general public.

Malawi’s Ministry of Mining has dismissed claims on social media that there is occurrence of natural crude oil (petroleum) in Limbe, Blantyre.

A video went viral on the social media alluding to the occurrence of natural crude oil in the area that lies approximately 90 metres to the West of Limbe River and about 170 metres to the East of Limbe Free Market.

This prompted the Ministry of Mining through its Departments of Geological Survey and Mines to send a technical team of experts to the site on a fact finding mission.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry Dr. Joseph Mkandawire said the study revealed that the substance was a refined petroleum product, specifically, diesel.

Mkandawire explained the area is underlain by basement metamorphic rocks assigned to charnockitic granulites which are overlain by younger unconsolidated sediments.

He said; “The unconsolidated sediments were observed on site. To understand the sediments, pitting and augering was done. Water and soil samples were collected and analysed by the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS).”

“The pit profile and physiography indicated a gentle slope towards Limbe river; two soil horizons one rich in humus (top soil layer) and the other high in iron content (sub-soil layer). Oil contamination was more visible on the top soil layer and diminishing with depth. If oil had a natural source and pathway, the contamination would be increasing with depth.”

He, therefore, said the results from the standard sample analytical tests such as Distillation, Density, Flash Point, Pour Point, Grease and Oil; conducted in accordance with Standard Test Methods from MBS clearly indicated that the sample fluid collected from the hole at the alleged site was processed diesel and not natural crude oil. 

“The results provide sufficient evidence that some form of anthropogenic disposal of diesel took place in the area and members of the general public are therefore advised to desist from using an analysed spillage to avoid accidents.”

Blantyre City Council reportedly relocated vendors to the area for vending purposes. Land preparation for construction of the vending structures unearthed the alleged oil occurrence.

Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) says it has commissioned a new feasibility study on Kammwamba coal fired power plant to update the feasibility study that was done in 2014.

 In an interview with Mining and Trade Review, EGENCO CEO Wiilliam Liabunya said the Company has engaged a German consultant Fitchner to execute the study

 “Kammwamba coal fired plant was given to EGENCO in 2019. It coincided well with the plans that we already had to put up a coal plant. We expect the feasibility study to take about six months, once that is concluded then we will finalize financial arrangements and embark on implementation,” said Liabunya.

 Liabunya said Kamwamba Coal Fired Power Plant is among other ongoing projects such as Kapichira dredging, dredging of the Nkula pond, Tedzani IV, Wovwe expansion, Likoma solar, and Mpatamanga Hydro Plant.

He also said EGENCO is working very hard to ensure that it rehabilitates the existing power stations as well as venture into developing new plants.

Commenting on the challenges that EGENCO is facing in establishing new power sources, Liabunya said every project is unique and consequently has different challenges.

He said: “Apart from issues of financing which are crosscutting, there are really no major challenges.”

“The delay in some of the projects is simply because we need as a public company to follow procedures in every transaction that we undertake, so sometimes these processes take time to complete.”

“What you also need to understand is that power projects unlike building a house take time and needs lots of permits and approvals. Lots of planning involved to get feasibility studies, get environmental permits, implement resettlement plans, negotiate connection and power purchase agreements with off taker, arrange for financing etc.”

Asked on what Malawians should expect in terms of power generation, he said this year they have put in place a number of measures to ensure that they sustain the current improved generation capacity.

Liabunya said: “Coupled to that is the matter of adequate water that has been harvested this year in the lake so that we can use during this dry season. As you may be aware, we now have a new barrage at Liwonde which is fully automated”

“Another important aspect is that we have been able to maintain all our machines, as of today, all our machines are in perfect working condition expect for one at Kapichira whose repairs could not be completed due to travel restrictions due to COVID 19. However, with continued opening of borders we hope to have commissioning engineers and equipment from Germany to be in the country by end of this month or early next month and have the machine back online”.

Recently, local mining experts called on government to consider setting up a coal fired power plant in the northern region in order to utilize locally sourced coal.

The Ministry of Energy says the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has negatively impacted on progress in the implementation of ongoing Extended Phase 8 of the Malawi Rural Electrification Project (MAREP).

MAREP is being implemented by the Malawi Government with an aim of transforming lives of people living in the rural and semi-urban areas by ensuring increased access to electricity.

Public Relations Officer for the Department of Energy Saidi Banda told Mining & Trade Review that Covid-19 has greatly affected the project as boarder restrictions that countries have imposed to curb the spread of the disease have disrupted supply chains for construction materials.

Banda said the Extended MAREP Phase 8 requires more construction materials following the increased number of sites in the phase but the Department could not manage to acquire the materials due the boarder restrictions.

He said: “In view of the extension, additional materials were procured. However, while the suppliers were in the process of delivering materials, various countries from which the materials were coming from effected lockdowns.”

“This led to a delayed delivery of materials which has affected the completion of construction works for extended MAREP Phase 8.”

“The delay in completion of construction works for extended MAREP Phase 8 has affected subsequent activities such as way leave and compensation; and material audit for the phase.”

Banda also said the covid-19 pandemic has failed the MAREP secretariat study tour and training.

He said the study tour was aimed at learning what other countries did when coming up with Rural Electrification Agencies which the Ministry is intending to establish. 

Banda said the disruption has led to the sluggish progress on the establishment of Rural Electrification Agency. 

“The Ministry carries out local and foreign capacity building training for the MAREP Secretariat which has been hugely affected by the covid-19 pandemic. Secretariat had sent to foreign trainings few officers whose training calendars were appearing before the effecting of lockdowns in the respective countries of training,” Banda said.

In the year 2020, the Ministry of Energy planned a number of activities including; construction of Extended MAREP Phase 8 power lines; MAREP sites impact assessment survey; data collection for formulation of concessions for MAREP sites from Phase 1 to Phase 8; design of high voltage and medium voltage overhead power lines for MAREP Phase 9; survey of overhead power lines routes for MAREP Phase 9 sites; procurement of construction materials for MAREP Phase 9; and procurement of construction contractors for MAREP Phase 9.

The Ministry also planned to conduct: Way leave assessment and Compensation for MAREP Phase 9 sites; construction of Natural Resources College (NRC) warehouse forecourt; procurement of forklifts for MAREP materials stores; connection of low income households to electricity under Ndawala Scheme; conducting study tour for establishment of Rural Electrification Agency.

Only three activities were completed, seven are in progress while the rest are to commence in the last quarter of the year.

Banda said the completed activities include: design of high voltage and medium voltage overhead power lines for MAREP Phase 9; procurement of forklifts for MAREP construction materials storage facilities; and procurement of additional materials under Extended MAREP Phase 8.

The activities in progress include: construction of Extended MAREP Phase 8 power lines; Technical Material Audit for Extended MAREP Phase 8 sites; way leave assessment and compensation for extended MAREP Phase 8 sites; way leave assessment and compensation for MAREP Phase 9 sites; survey of overhead power lines routes for MAREP Phase 9 sites; procurement of construction materials for sites under MAREP Phase 9; and delivery of additional materials under Extended MAREP Phase 8.

The Ministry introduced the Ndawala Scheme to ensure that low income households are connected to electricity.

 “This is a scheme where low income households are given soft loans with no interest to wire their houses. The loan is recovered over time by deducting 40% from the units purchased by a beneficiary,” Banda said.  

Government under MAREP has managed to electrify 1074 centres across the country including 849 in Phase 8. Government policy to achieve 30% of grid extension by year 2030.

The Malawi Government says it is working to ensure that the 2022 deadline for connecting the country’s power grid to that of Mozambique is not missed.

State President Lazarus Chakwera said in his State of the Nation Address in Parliament that his government is banking on the interconnector to address the country’s power deficit.

“Once this is done, Malawi will have access to the Southern Africa Power Pool,” Chakwera said.

 Chakwera also said in order to address the power shortages, his government is facilitating construction of 60 MW solar power plant in Salima and is in the process of securing a strategic sponsor for the 350MW Mpatamanga Hydro Project on Shire River.

“We are also concluding Independent Power Producer Agreements, which will open the sector to private investors, which will require new leadership at Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) to facilitate such reforms as new tariff structures that reflect market realities,” he said.

Chakwera also said his government will revisit existing energy contracts and petroleum production sharing agreements in line with the law, ending those that are economically unsustainable and signed under questionable terms during the era of the previous administration.

Malawi’s electricity penetration rate stands at only 18%.

Minister of Energy Newton Kambala says he is considering plans to initiate the development of nuclear energy as part of diversification of energy sources to deal with power interruptions and blackouts which are having a knock-on effect on the growth of the country’s economic sectors.

Nuclear is produced through enrichment of uranium and Malawi has the Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga, which is being operated by ASX-listed Lotus Resources, and a number of sites with uranium anomalies.

In an exclusive interview with Mining and Trade Review, Kambala said government is pushing for diversification of power sources because the country’s power crisis is as a result of overdependence on the hydro power from the lone source, Shire River.

He said hydro power generation is prone to natural fundamental vulnerabilities largely from the climate change effects including drought and flooding which greatly affects production.

 “We are exploring nuclear as a possibility in Malawi electricity generation and several companies have expressed interest in this,” he said.

Government is also working on diversifying sources of power to renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and waste to energy.

Kambala said government committed a couple of Solar Independent Power Producer (IPPs) which would have come on stream by April 2020 but failed due to complications related to the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions.

He said in the medium and long term, Government has signed PPAs for IPPs committed to supply power from various sources such as wind, coal, and geothermal sources.

Government is also preparing to build interconnectors with Mozambique and Zambia in order to be able to tap power from the neighboring countries, the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) and Eastern Power Pool (EAPP) when the Songwe River Power Generation project is finalized.

Kambala, nonetheless, said the energy diversification drive will not absolutely do away with hydro power as government plans to source more stable power from the planned Kholombidzo and Mpatamanga projects which will be supported by environmental protection initiatives started during the United States of America (USA) funded Millennium Challenge Corporation power project.”

He also disclosed that currently there is Shire Environmental Protection Trust, a body which ensures that the catchment area of the river is conserved to avoid excessive silting.

Kambala said the weeds problem that blocks power generating machines almost every year is being managed by the country’s power generating company Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) through the EGENCO harvesters at Liwonde in Balaka district.

He said: “The hydro source still remains a feature in the Country’s Power Plans because we have lots of potential sites across the country.”

“Accordingly, Government will in the medium to long term implement additional hydro projects on other rivers such as Fufu and Songwe rivers,” he said.

Kambala said government has embarked on a campaign to encourage mutual participation of the IPPs who would bring along their own financing for the power projects in the country.

He said: “These IPPs will go into carefully negotiated contracts with government through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for the benefit of the sector and the nation. Government now encourages the use of private financing in addition to the public finance sources.”

“We will continue to go into partnerships with the private energy companies or financiers for the development of the strategic power plants. Government is already currently developing the Mpatamanga Power Plant in the PPP format.”

The Minister said government intends to structure more large power generation projects in a financing model similar to that of Mpatamanga Power Plant which involves bringing on board strategic financial partners from the private sector.

“Government is looking at the short, medium and long term measures of improving the power supply to the general public and to the industry in particular,” he said.

Kambala said in the short term the country will continue to rely on the emergency solution of generators to fill the generation gap from hydro sources while it is monitoring diversification programs for delivery.

On the issue of political influence which has all along affected operations of state owned companies such as Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and EGENCO, Kambala said government will ensure that the companies have capable professionals to follow applicable laws, policies and guidelines.

He said: “As a Minister, I will be engaging Board of Directors for parastatals in the Energy Sector to ensure that they understand clearly government expectations and that they will be held liable for the performance of the Institutions.”

“The Board of Directors will have to commit to the performance of their companies and they will be appraised against clearly laid down Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).”

The Minister hailed ESCOM for the campaign conducted against illegal electricity connections which has resulted in the arrests of the culprits.

Kambala, however, pointed out that most of the illegal connections were done due to the long waiting time before being connected by ESCOM, and said that his Ministry already instructed the body to ensure that all applications for connections are cleared to cut off the demand for the services.

Besides ensuring fairly quick electricity connections to customers after application, the Minister is also pushing for improved response time to faults, and improved customer care at Escom.

Malawi’s Electricity Generation Company [EGENCO] says construction of the Mpatamanga Hydroelectric Power Plant on Shire River will start in early 2022.

Senior Public Relations Officer for EGENCO Moses Gwaza says the power utility in coordination with the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) is currently working on identifying a private strategic partner for the project which will be implemented in a public private partnership (PPP) mode.

“As part of the financing for the project will come from World Bank, the Bank has their own procedures which are progressing in parallel with the strategic partner identification process,” he says.

Gwaza says EGENCO is determined to continue with the project though the coronavirus (Covid -19) pandemic is affecting some ongoing processes.

“We will of course implement Covid-19 prevention measures as well as the safety measures of the projects of this magnitude. Since at this stage most of the processes are negotiations, these are continuing on virtual modes,” he says.

The PPPC announced in June this year that it had prequalified a consortium comprising SN Power Invest Netherlands B.V and Electrite De France SA (SN Power and EDF SA) as a strategic investor for the project.

Gwaza dismisses fears that participation of international private investors in Mpatamanga will translate to higher cost of electricity in Malawi as the investors will be looking for profits.

He says: “Ideally any investor experts returns on his or her investment. But this should cause no worry as government has the interest of Malawians at heart that is why it is involved in the project through EGENCO.’’

 “In other words, while ensuring that there is a return in the investment by the private investor, government will ensure that the prices are realistic and in the best interest of Malawians,

The Mpatamanga power supply project will have a main dam within the Shire river which will produce 309 megawatts. There will also be another regulating dam where 41 megawatts will be produced. This regulating dam is designed in a way that it will help to prevent flooding downstream of shire river especially during peak hour when maximum production is in progress.

Lack of adequate and reliable power supply from the national grid is one of the major factors hindering investment in heavy industries such as large-scale mining in Malawi.

The mothballed Kayelekera Uranium Mining in Karonga, which remains the country’s biggest mining investment, is powered by diesel generators which is more expansive for the company in comparison with utilization of power from the national grid.