The Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) will shut down Tedzani III unit 5 power station for five months starting from Monday.
According to a statement released by the company on Friday, the shutdown will be done to allow rehabilitation, modernisation and upgrading of the power station.
EGENCO says when the works are completed, Tedzani III will become more reliable and efficient and will be producing 31 megawatts, six more than the current 26 megawatts.
The works will cost EGENCO K6.2 billion and will take away the 26 megawatts produced by Tedzani III.
EGENCO has however assured Malawians that the works will be carried out in a way that they should not significantly affect power supply.
“The public may wish to know that currently Tedzani I and II machines with capacity of 30MW are mostly at standstill due to inadequate water in-flow in the Shire River. We will therefore be running the Tedzani I and II machines and be supplying a total of 30MW. We will also be running the diesel engines during peak demand hours,” says the statement.
According to EGENCO, the rehabilitation and modernisation works at Tedzani III are the first since the machine was commissioned in 1995.
Hydropower plants are expected to be rehabilitated 15 to 20 years of operations to ensure that they are reliable and efficient.
