Malawi government and Elsewedy Electric of Egypt on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a 50 megawatts solar power plant, a move government says is key towards addressing the country’s power deficit.

Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola signed the MoU on behalf of the Malawi Government while Elsewedy president Engineer Ahmed El Sewedy signed on behalf of his company. Minister of Trade Mark Katsonga Phiri also attended the signing ceremony.

EI Sewedy (L) and Matola put pen-to-paper

Matola said the coming in of the new Independent Power Producer (IPP) is critical in achieving the country’s energy mix in line with the Integrated Power Resources Plan.

He said: “The signing of this MoU is a milestone towards increasing electricity to match the country’s high demand. Our current combined installed capacity is about 522 megawatts (MW) against the demand of 720MW as stated in our plan.”

In his remarks, El Sewedy said they want to contribute to the country’s power sector development by starting with the 50MW, which will eventually be increased to 100MW by 2023.

He said: “We are honoured to be part of the country’s power sector development; we would like to see that within one month we sign the Power Purchase Agreement so that we can roll out our project three months afterwards”.

He said they are also interested to invest in power distribution, transmission, hospitality, construction of Ministerial offices among other areas of interest.

He said the costing of the projects will be identified subject to feasibility studies that will be undertaken to ascertain specific works that will be undertaken.

The MoU will within 12 months allow the government through Power Market Limited and Elsewedy Electric to work on the Power Purchase Agreement.

On Friday’s MoU with Elsewedy Electric is a culmination of several engagements that the President Lazarus Chakwera-led government has been undertaking.

During the Intra African Trade Fair 2021, which took place in Durban, South Africa from the 15 to 21 November 2021, Chakwera had a meeting with Engineer El Sewedy about the investment plans.

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