Malawi has completed the installation of southern Africa's only utility-scale battery storage system outside South Africa and Namibia, a 20-megawatt facility designed to help stabilise power supplies in one of the world's least electrified countries.
Officials from the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) switched on the battery over the weekend as the country seeks to make its power network more resilient to climate shocks. A strong El Nino weather pattern is bringing higher temperatures that are expected to reduce flows in the Shire River, on which Malawi relies for most of its hydropower.
Only a quarter of Malawians have access to electricity, a figure the government aims to increase to 70% by 2030. Hydropower plants that provide about two-thirds of the country's electricity supply were severely damaged by Cyclone Freddy three years ago.
Solar currently provides about 100 MW of Malawi's 580-MW generating capacity.
"This project is about providing the steady, high-quality power that our hospitals need to save lives. It is about what our schools need to educate our children, and our businesses need to thrive," Energy Minister Jean Mathanga said on Friday at the site in the capital, Lilongwe.
Malawi plans to add three more battery storage facilities with a combined capacity of 60 MW in two other cities.
The first project was funded by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. The battery system will help connect 600,000 additional households and cut blackouts from four hours to less than two hours, ESCOM Chief Operations Officer Sinosi Maliyano said.
"I am struggling to pay for my children's college fees because my welding business can't sustain us due to frequent blackouts," Adrian Masoambeta, 43, who owns a welding shop, told Reuters.
"We hope they are serious with these batteries."
