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This mode of power generation
uses water which in turn drives the turbines to generate
electrical energy. It is one of environmental friendly
mode of generating power. The whole system comprises
of a reservoir, spillway, intake coarse and fine screens,
power intake mouth, tunnels, surge chamber, penstocks,
spiral case, draft tube and tail race.
Nearly 95% of Malawi’s
electricity supply is provided by hydropower from
a cascaded group of interconnected hydroelectric power
plants located on the middle part of Shire River and
a mini hydro on the Wovwe River, which constitute
the interconnected system.
Total installed capacity
of these hydropower plants is 282.5MW. The hydroelectric
schemes on the Shire River are all of run-of the river
type. Some thermapower plants serve as stand-by for
the interconnected system: a 15 MW Gas Turbine Plant
in Blantyre and a 1.1 MW Diesel Power Plant in Mzuzu.
Likoma District has two separate isolated systems
with a total installed thermal power plants capacity
of 1.050MW.
Therefore, the total
present installed capacity for the ESCOM system, inclusive
of standby thermal plants, is about 299.65 MW.
The present ESCOM generation
system could be summarised as follows:
| Nkula
Falls ‘A’ |
• 3 Units
at 8 MW each, installed in 1966 |
| Nkula Falls ‘B’ |
• 3 Units at 20 MW each,
installed in 1980
• 1 Unit at 20 MW,
installed in 1986
• 1 Unit at 20 MW,
installed in 1992 |
| Tedzani Falls I |
• 2 Units at 10 MW each,
installed in 1973 |
| Tedzani Falls II |
• 2 Units at 10 MW each,
installed in 1977 |
| Tedzani Falls III |
• 2 Units at 25 MW each,
installed in 1996 |
| Wovwe Mini Hydro |
• 3 Units at 1.5 MW each,
installed in 1995 |
| Kapichira Falls Phase
I |
• 2 Units at 32 MW each,
installed in 2000 |
| Blantyre Gas Turbine |
• 1 Unit at about 15 MW,
installed in 1975 |
| Mzuzu Diesel Units |
• 1 Unit at about 1.1 MW |
| Likoma Islands Diesel
Units |
• 3 Units at 250 KW each
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| Chizumulu Islands
Diesel Units |
• 2 Units at 150 KW each |
The hydropower plants
on the Shire River, located downstream of Liwonde
Barrage, have operated without major problems until
in recent years when floating aquatic weeds/plants
and debris being transported in the river have caused
severe operational problems and damage to intake structures.
Siltation of power plants reservoirs has also contributed
immensely to the operational problems.
Click
hereto see what are Escom's efforts to mitigate generation
problems and capacity consrtaints
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