Malawi’s state power utility ESCOM said on Thursday it had introduced emergency load shedding after a sharp drop in solar power generation and a fault at one of the generating units at the Nkula B hydropower station reduced electricity supply.
ESCOM said solar generation from independent power producers had fallen to about 10 megawatts (MW) from 111 MW due to weather conditions.
The reduction was compounded by a fault at the Nkula B Unit 6 generating unit, operated by the utility’s main hydropower supplier, it said.
The utility warned that power cuts could extend beyond scheduled times and affect customers outside their planned load-shedding schedules.
ESCOM said its suppliers were working to restore the affected generating units and normal power supply.
It advised customers to follow the load-shedding programme published on Aug. 10 through its website and other communication platforms.
The disruption highlights the vulnerability of Malawi’s electricity supply to fluctuations in renewable generation and outages at major hydropower facilities.
Discover more from Energy News Africa
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.