ESCOM is informing its valued customers and the general public that the repair, rehabilitation and commissioning of Tedzani 1&11 power stations was successfully completed in August 2009 except for some defects that need to be cleared by contractor. Consequently, there will be a reduction in the load shedding hours.

All machines were handed over to ESCOM for commercial operation thus adding 40 MegaWatts (MW) to the power supply grid. This translates into a total available capacity of 278MW against a total demand of about 300MW.

The project is expected to be completed in November 2009 after completion of the remaining works by the contractor.

Thereafter, the Corporation will commence upgrading works at Nkula B Power Station. Generators will be rewound and new voltage control systems will be installed. The works will be carried out on one machine at a time and are expected to take five months.

During the period the generation capacity will be reduced by 20MW thereby reducing the available capacity to 266MW. As a result, some customers will experience power interruptions due to load shedding.

On completion of the upgrading works, the efficiency and the reliability of the system will be improved. Furthermore, the total available capacity will increase back to 286MW.

ESCOM is assuring its customers and the general public that efforts are being made to ensure that Malawi enjoys reliable power supply.