Mozambique: Power restored in Cabo Delgado nearly three days after blackout

Mozambican power utility EDM announced today the restoration of power supply to Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country, almost three days after a blackout caused by the collapse of a high-voltage tower. In a statement, Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM) explained that electricity supply to Cabo Delgado and the district of Eráti, in neighbouring Nampula province, “was restored this morning.” EDM added that the power was reinstated following the installation of a support structure for the high-voltage lines along the stretch between Namialo and Metoro, “allowing the reconnection of the electrical system.” Despite the restoration, EDM warned of potential new power cuts, which will be announced in due course, in view of planned interventions at the site to make the infrastructure “more resilient” to adverse weather. READ:Mozambique: Electricity supply to Cabo Delgado cut – AIM report Cabo Delgado province and Nampula province’s Eráti district had been without electricity since Tuesday night due to the collapse of a high-voltage tower between Namialo and Metoro, caused by progressive soil erosion from heavy rainfall in the region.

“About 100 technicians, including properly trained local labour, were engaged in carrying out the power restoration work safely and swiftly,” EDM said intoday’s statement. On Thursday, traders in Cabo Delgado told Lusa that business had come to a standstill and complained of losses due to the power outage. “If I don’t close completely it is because I have nothing else; if I had something else to do, I would close, because everything is at a standstill,” Arnaldo Macamo, 35, told Lusa from the balcony of his grocery store in Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, whose number of customers had dropped since the blackout, particularly alcohol consumers.

On the same day, the EDM president said that the “immediate restoration” of electricity would cost 20 million meticais (€263,400), acknowledging “enormous” losses. READ:Cabo Delgado power restoration costs US$313,000, full tower rebuild US$783,000 Mozambique is in the middle of its rainy season, which runs from October to April, having already recorded at least 202 deaths, 291 injuries, and 852,285 people affected, according to an update from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).