Rehabilitation of Manica power stations

The Mavuzi and Chicamba hydro-electric power stations, on the Revue River in the central province of Manica, have been delivered to the publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, after a complete rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation and modernization of the two power stations was in the hands of a consortium of French and Norwegian companies. It cost US$120 million and took three years. Although they will not be formally re-inaugurated until late March, they are already in use.
According to the project coordinator, Abraao Rafael, who is also EDM’s deputy director for electrification and projects, the final certificate testifying to receiving the stations after their rehabilitation was signed on 20 February.
EDM uses Chicamba and Mavuzi to supply electricity to Manica and the neighbouring province of Sofala, and the power is only sufficient with the interconnection with the Chibata sub-station which draws its power from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi.

The modernisation was important in order to prolong the life of the two power stations, which were in danger of shutting down entirely due to the obsolescence of their components. Because the original parts no longer exist on the international market, the consortium had to design and make new parts. EDM claims that the work has given Chicamba and Mavuzi an additional 30 years of useful life.

The work also allows the stations to generate almost 20 megawatts more than they could prior to the rehabilitation. Thus the maximum generating capacity at Chicamba has risen from 38 to 44 megawatts, and that at Mavuzi has risen from 30 to 41 megawatts.

AIM

posted from Bloggeroid

Running loss:Eletricidade de Mozaçambique

Public Electricity of Mozambique (EDM, EP) recorded net losses amounting
to -61,173,844.00 meticais in 2014. In a report on the financial statement made public a few days ago, the company does know that during the year 2014 had a turnover estimated at about 10,739,768,055.00 meticais.Earnings before tax are set at -71,851,975.00 meticais.

Cahora Bassa not cause of cheap South African power

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Pedro Couto, on 26 November denied a claim by Renamo that electricity is cheaper in South Africa than in Mozambique because power from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi is sold far too cheaply to South Africa.

Speaking in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, during a question and answer session between
the deputies and the government, Couto said that the total amount of power generated in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region was 55,000 megawatts.

Of this, 43,000 megawatts(almost 80 per cent) was generated inside South Africa.

South Africa’s imports of electricity from Mozambique(mostly from Cahora Bassa) account for less than three per cent of the total power consumed in South Africa.

It was thus impossible,Couto said, for the price charged for Cahora Bassa power to have a determinant impact on the final price paid by South African electricity consumers.

The reason why electricity is cheaper in South Africa than in Mozambique,he argued,is because South Africa is an industrial country which uses large amounts of power at high and medium voltage.

In Mozambique,on the other hand,98 per cent of consumers are domestic, using power at low voltage.Couto said it is more expensive to produce low voltage than high voltage power,because
more transformation isrequired which increases the cost.

That explained the price difference between South Africa and Mozambique, and it had nothing to do with Cahora Bassa.

Asked about the unreliability of
power supply in central Mozambique,Couto said that
cities such as Beira and Chimoio receive their electricity from the Chicamba and Mavuzi dams on the Revue River.

These power stations were built under Portuguese colonial rule, in the early 1950s, and their efficiency has declined to less than 50 per cent of installed capacity.

Major rehabilitation work began on the two Revue dams in 2014, and Couto said that when the work is finished next year they will operate at full capacity of 90 megawatts.

Renamo had also complained
that Zumbo, in Tete province, is
not supplied from the Mozambican national grid at all, but from Zambia.

Couto said that was perfectly true, and other frontier regions also obtained their power from neighbouring countries –Milange, in Zambezia province,from Malawi, and Espungabera,in Manica, from Zimbabwe – while the Kosi Bay area in the South African province of
Kwazulu-Natal drew its power from Mozambique. 

Such arrangements were common throughout the world,he said, because it can often be cheaper and more rational to ibtain electricity from a neighbouring country, rather than from a more distant national power source.

 “Mozambique is part of the Southern African region”,stressed Couto.

“We are not closed in on ourselves. Youcan’t run energy distribution
on a basis of total isolation”.

Frelimo deputies found itstrange that Renamo was complaining about electricity at a time when more of
Mozambique is electrified than ever before.

Francisco Mucanheia pointed out that in 2007, when the Mozambican state took a majority holding in Cahora Bassa,only 64 districts had electricity.

That figure has now risen to 146 – only six district capitals do not yet have electricity from the grid, and all are among the new districts set up last year by dividing existing districts into smaller units.

SOURCE AIM

Moçambique - Manica - Messica _ Chicamba Hidroelectric power plant.Besides Chicamba hidroelectric power plant,Mozambique has one of the largest hidroelectric power plant,Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa,in Songo,Cahora Bassa,Tete province.