ABOUT EGENCO

EGENCO initially existed as ESCOM’s electricity generation division before separating as part of the Malawian government’s energy reforms in 2016. The company is mandated to generate and sell power to its former parent, which remains the sole purchaser in the country. The government, however, still plans to establish a single buyer entity separate from ESCOM which will provide independence for it to deal with all electricity generators at arm’s length. The total installed capacity of EGENCO’s power plants is 415.45 MW (as of May 2019), made up of 366.55 MW of hydro and 49.77 MW of thermal diesel generators. Most of the installed hydropower (362.05 MW) is cascaded on the Shire River in the Southern Region of Malawi. The first power station site on the Cascade is Nkula (135.1 MW) followed downstream by Tedzani (97.35 MW) and Kapichira (129.6 MW). The remaining 4.5 MW of hydropower is installed on the Wovwe River in the north of Malawi. The diesel generators installed at Lilongwe (22.9 MW), Blantyre (20 MW) and Mzuzu (6 MW) are connected to the national grid, while those on Likoma and Chizumulu Islands (0.87 MW) are off-grid. To ensure good quality of water for electricity generation downstream, EGENCO also has a functional unit to harvest aquatic weeds and trash in the Shire River at Liwonde Barrage.