Energy
Malawi advances drive to scale up energy production
November 29, 2020 / Noel Mkwaila
Minister of Energy Newton Kambala says the Malawi government is working on scaling up energy production through a diversification drive from overdependence on hydropower to embrace various sources of energy.
The Minister said this at a press conference held Saturday by the Ministry in conjunction with power utilities the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) to give an update on the country’s efforts to ensure adequate supply of electricity across the nation.
The minister clarified that government has plans to connect people without electricity to the national grid using power generated through hydro, fuel, solar, gas among other sources of energy.
“The energy situation is currently progressing well since when the grid is fully loaded, it only remains with a deficit of about 50 MW,” Kambala said.
He said as the demand for electricity continues to grow, government is coming up with more interventions to deal with the demand and take care of any inefficiencies.
He said there is progress on the construction of a coal fired plant at Kammwamba in Neno, which is meant to give the country about 300 Megawatts of electricity and Mpatamanga Hydropower Plant that is to provide 350 Megawatts.
“Once done, these projects have the capacity to generate in excess of a gigawatt,” he said stressing; “with this, we will see more investors coming to the country.”
Kambala said that his ministry has plans to decentralize the Department of Energy’s activities for more efficiency on the ground.
To achieve an efficient decentralised structure, the minister said that there are plans to recruit energy officers who will be placed in each and every district of the country with an aim of meeting goals of Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP).
“These officers will fill an existing void where the rural areas do not have qualified personnel responsible for determining where to connect electricity,” said the minister assuring the nation of accountability and transparency in the process of accessing electricity.
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Rehabilitation:
The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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Remediation:
The cleanup of the contaminated area to safe levels by removing or isolating contaminants. At mine sites, remediation often consists of isolating contaminated material in pre-existing tailings storage facilities, capping tailings and waste rock stockpiles with clean topsoil, and collecting and treating any contaminated mine water if necessary.
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