Construction begins at 60-MW solar project in Malawi

Construction has been launched on the 60-MW Salima solar project, Malawi's first independent power producer (IPP) scheme and one of the first commercial-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, InfraCo Africa said on Wednesday.

The project is a partnership of InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG),and a development fund managed by a subsidiary of JCM Power and Matswani Capital. Construction of the facility will open about 300 jobs, most of which will be local hires, InfraCo Africa said in a Twitter post.

The Salima solar park will use 230,000 PV panels that are expected to start feeding electricity to Malawi’s grid by the end of next year. It will operate under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Ltd (ESCOM), signed at the end of September.

Apart from the Salima project, InfraCo Africa and JCM Power are developing the 20-MW Golomoti solar project in southeastern Malawi, regarded as Salima’s sister project.

Malawi, the landlocked country in southeast Africa aims to reach 30% access to energy by 2030, with the share rising to 60% by 2040.

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