The Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has said it is expected to complete installation of its diesel power generators in Mzuzu City in the first week of January, 2018.
The 18 MW generators arrived in the country in November this year as a short-term measure to address the persistent power outages being experienced in the country.
Egenco Publicist, Moses Gwaza said the installation of the Mzuzu generators is being done in sets, adding that the first set of 6 MW was expected to be completed by end of December.
“We expect that the installation of the other two sets will be complete by the first week of January 2018. Following the addition of the 18 megawatts, we expect to see an improvement in power generation,” Gwaza said.
He further said installation of the Blantyre and Lilongwe generators is already under way and is expected to be completed by March.
“In a nut shell, the whole exercise of installing the generators is expected to come to an end by March and consumers should expect a much better improvement in power supply,” he said.
Gwaza said generators for the Central Region have a capacity of 10 MW while those for the Southern Region have a capacity of 20MW.
With the low water levels in Lake Malawi, Egenco as at December 13, was able to produce 200 megawatts of electricity against a demand of 351 MW.
Egenco recently told reporters that it is exploring the possibility of building a 20 MW solar power station, expected to be operational within 12 to 24 months.
I n the long term, Egenco said it is exploring construction of a 320 MW project at Mpatamanga, adding that the World Bank is funding a feasibility study for the project.