It started like a mare talk on the Renewable Energy of Malawi whatsapp group when one member posted a link with a story recognising Corled Nkosi as a Commonwealth Point of Light awardee for developing a hydroelectric power plant from scrap metal to supply electricity to people in his area Mzimba district. The story ignited a sense of appreciation amongst members where there was recognition for such a wonderful innovation by a young Malawian.
This was no easy feat. Nkosi beat 175 other youths with various skills and talents to become the first ever Points of Light recipient in the country.
The Points of Light awards recognises outstanding volunteers. People whose service is making a difference in their respective communities and who serve as an inspiration to others to create innovative solutions to social challenges in their own communities and beyond.
“Such wonderful innovations need to be embraced by Malawians and its high time we start recognising our youth and the role they are playing in contributing to the development of renewable energy industry in Malawi”, Chisambazi said.
Commenting on the debate, Eddie Mombera said, “We need to visit this guy with such wonderful innovation”. Reacting to the comments, Mr. Nkosi said “there is a lot to share and your visit will be of great importance to our community and to me.
As a result, the Kasangazi Hydro-Electric power tour was planned to take place on 24th March, 2018. Kasangazi is approximately 320 Kms from Lilongwe and 50kms from Mzuzu.
Touring the power plant was an experience for the team and some knowledge was shared by Corled, he specifically shared his thoughts on how he came up with the wonderful innovation.
In his presentation, Corled said, “I diverted water from the Kasangazi River, to create water fall through a gravitational force which was able to generate power of over 300 volts”. “I used 10-metre plastic pipes, a generator and connected this to some wires to generate power and transmit it through a line, specifically to my village, two kilometres away”, Nkosi narrated.
In his explanation, Nkosi says his fascination for electrical engineering started during his secondary school days. “I used to play with electrical appliances during school days at Mzimba Secondary School. I used to fix electrical faults at school,” he explains.
The idea to build his own hydro-electric power plant was hatched in 2012 after he had seen someone in Nkhata-Bay generate his own power.
“I knew I could not fail to build my own power plant and that’s how I started to assemble the materials,” he narrates.
Realizing that living in the dark was no longer an option for him and that using candles and lamps was not sustainable nor affordable, he asked himself how best he could come up with an innovation to make electricity available in his village.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Chisambazi observed that Mr. Nkosi needed a hand to upscale the innovation as it has helped to improve the village. “We need to hold him hand for the capacity building training he is doing with the youths”, Chisambazi narrated.
Nkosi dreams of extending his innovation to other villages. More importantly creating access to electricity in order to connect Kasangazi Primary School. Currently teachers and learners cannot prepare lessons and study respectively due to lack of access to electricity.
“I need to upgrade the system to the required standard so that I am able to generate enough power to supply to my area. If there are people who can help me with such ideas I can appreciate,” Nkosi appeals.