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Commissioning of Serengeti Energy’s Nkhotakota solar PV plant (Nkhotakhota 1) is under way.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)- and London AIM-listed Mkango Resources said on 27 February that it had received the TSX’s conditional approval for its recent £3.5m ($4.2m) fundraising share placement. Some of the funds will be used for the firm’s Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi.

One of southern Africa’s most eagerly anticipated strategic projects should finally be completed by year-end, after overcoming a legacy of past conflicts. African Energy examines the challenges the 218km, 400kV Mozambique-Malawi (Moma) transmission interconnection project has faced, including  a five-month demining process along the 142km Mozambican side.

Analysis of the latest information on the African Energy Live Data platform shows that over half of the 23.4GW electricity generation capacity expected online by 2027 across southern Africa will come from public procurement rounds, some 12.5GW of it from renewables and hybrid technologies.

Only a few days after its launch, solar company Ener-G-Africa has begun exports from its newly established solar panel manufacturing plant in Cape Town. The first order of 1,000 panels is being supplied to Malawi.

Amid the gloom, there is some good news for Malawi’s power sector. Steady progress is being made on the long-awaited 218km, 400kV Mozambique-Malawi (Moma) Power Transmission Interconnection Project which remains on schedule to be completed by year-end.

The government’s dissolution of Power Market Ltd (PML) signals further disarray in Malawi’s power sector. Some insiders and developers who spoke to African Energy didn’t lament the single-buyer’s demise, but serious macroeconomic difficulties pose severe challenges for an industry as the power crisis continues, writes Marc Howard.

Malawi faces a continuing electricity supply crisis, with state utility Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) forced to implement 10hrs/d nationwide rolling outages.

Commercial operations of Malawi’s Nkhotakota solar PV plant are due to begin on 22 December, IPP Serengeti Energy announced.

Additions of renewable power generating capacity are proceeding more slowly than expected in markets with weak grids, such as Nigeria and Malawi. In response, developers are assessing potential solutions including increased baseload capacity and ancillary services agreements.

Southern Africa leaders have made a joint appeal at COP27 for nearly $20bn from investors to complete electricity transmission interconnectors and fund new renewable energy projects, in part to increase energy capacity in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

Malawi has taken further steps towards its goal of universal electrification with the launch of the ‘Scaling Renewables in Malawi to Underpin Development’ programme.  Backed by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), the programme aims to expand electricity access from its current level of 18%.

The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has signed a commitment to lend $25m to the 20MWp Golomoti solar PV and a 5MW/10MWh battery energy storage system (Bess).

A public/private partnership led by Scatec and EDF will develop the 350MW Mpatamanga hydroelectric power plant, which will double Malawi’s installed HEP capacity, in welcome news for the struggling power sector.

As January’s Storm Ana continues to cause immense difficulties, the approval of $60m in emergency funding to repair Malawi’s largest power plant and its transmission and distribution network will provide some relief, but the country continues to rely too heavily on hydroelectric plants on the Shire River and costly diesel generation.