Power project to start in March

The commissioning of the Mozambique- Malawi Power Interconnector project, which aims to tap electricity from Mozambique, is now anticipated next month, instead of February as final works continue. This comes a month after Ministry of Energy and Mining and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) said electricity supply will stabilise this month after three projects, including the interconnector, are commissioned. In a communiqué titled ‘Update on 50 Megawatts (MW) and Festive Season Preparedness’, Escom said the interconnector coupled with restoration of the 31MW Tedzani Power Station and the 20MW Kanengo Battery Energy Solar System (Bess) will solve electricity challenges by February 2026.

It said the interconnector which will enable Malawi to tap 50MW from Mozambique, will be commissioned in February 2026 and together with the Bess project (which targets storing solar power to stabilise supply) will be key to stabilise electricity supply from 2026 going forward. However, in an interview on Tuesday, Ministry Energy and Mining spokesperson Joana Thaundi said the two projects are now expected to be commissioned by mid-March as finishing works are underway all equipment arrived in the recent weeks. Thaundi said: “For the Mozambique-Malawi power Interconnector project, the last consignment of the equipment has officially arrived and the final works are progressing ahead of the commissioning more likely in mid-March.” On the Bess project, Thaundi said the project works are progressing well after the arrival of batteries from China some three weeks ago and has since projected the commissioning in March 2026.

In an interview on Tuesday, former minister of Energy Grain Malunga described the power interconnector project as key to the country’s production sector, which needs stable energy to thrive. He said: “I believe this project is achievable only if priority is given to the energy and production sectors. That is to say give the energy sector the needed resources manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors.” to generate electricity and support Earlier, former Escom operations director who was the project coordinator Maxwell Mulimakwenda said on Malawi side, the project’s main works were completed as early as August 2025 with commissioning mainly awaiting the works to be finalised in Mozambique’s side.

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He attributed the missing of multiple deadlines to delays faced in Mozambique due to complex geographical features that slowed construction works and post-elections conflict which disrupted works. “This is because the project faced delays due to post-election conflicts that forced works to stop, so considering that it is one project, the commissioning will wait until the Mozambique side is completed,” said Mulimakwenda. Malawi reviewed its earlier plan of tapping 120MW from the project, saying it would have cost about $10 million (K17.4 billion) a month. But Malunga said Malawi will in the first five years get 50MW at about $4.5 million (about K7.8 billion) per month.

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