Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) Chief Executive Officer William Liabunya says Kapichira Hydroelectric Power Station will be up and running by December 22, 2022 effectively easing the current persistent blackouts.

Speaking this morning at the Central Office of Information in Lilongwe, Liabunya said the main cause of the current blackouts is the critical shortage of power supply after losing 130 Megawatts from Kapachira which is one-third of base load on January 24, 2022.

“The system became unstable and was left in a fragile state because of a shaking load to the system. Last weekend we had three national blackouts because Tedzani III (31 Megawatts) was under normal maintenance”.

“We also discovered weaknesses of the protection system so any system shock exposes the system to fragility. Kapichira restoration is one of the solutions being championed now,” he said.

Liabunya also said that the Kapichira Restoration project concept was floated and a loan with World Bank was signed in May and that restoration work is starting on 24 September.

Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi Chief Executive Officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said ESCOMs mandate according to 2016 amended Act is to procure, transmit and distribute and not generate electricity.

“The system at the moment is very fragile hence we are distributing what we receive from the producers. Load shedding is a result avoiding system shutdown due to inadequate power generation.

“We don’t have adequate reaction time to the customers when there are emergency situations of power generation hence load shedding outside scheduled time,” he said.