It is an open secret that Malawi is currently facing an energy crisis. Access to sustainable energy is a challenge to almost the entire population. In simplest terms, energy poverty is lack of access to sustainable energy sources and services.
Some facts and figures - the current energy situation in Malawi:
With only 11% of the population having access to electricity Malawi is amongst the least-electrified countries of the world. In rural areas the rate even drops to 4% meaning that grid connection does hardly exist once you leave urban areas.[1]mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
According to the World Bank 41% of people living in urban areas have access to electrification. However, blackouts are very common and sometimes last up to 24 hours which means you are still left without energy despite grid connection. On average there is a power outage for 6 hours every day.[2]
The reason for this inconvenience is that the estimated energy demand of over 400 MW cannot be met by the maximum installed capacity of 373 MW.[3] Therefor the national utility Energy Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) needs to ration power supply by regular load-shedding. It is projected that the energy demand will increase significantly in the next few years due to the implementation of various economic activities whereas it will take much more time and effort to increase the energy capacity making the deficient in energy supply even more serious (a moderate growth scenario predicts an energy demand of 950MW in 2020).[4]
Nearly 95% of the total capacity (351MW) is generated from hydro power plants that are mainly located along the Shire river. Standby diesel power plants generate the remaining amount of 22 MW.[5] This high dependency on hydro-power as almost the only source of energy leads to strong ups and downs. During the dry season the reduced water flow sometimes pushes the generation capacity below 200 MW.
The lack of AWARENESS on, ACCESS to and AFFORDABILITY of sustainable energy solutions leads to nearly all Malawians (and the majority of people throughout Sub-Saharan Africa) to rely on biomass fuels. Without grid connection and gas fuels people have no other choice than using firewood and charcoal for cooking. But even if they do biomass is generally appreciated as a cheap and easy way for getting energy. This leads to a staggering rate of 98% of all households using solid fuels for cooking (81% firewood, 16% charcoal, 1% crop residue).[6] The great danger inefficient energy use poses to Malawi and its inhabitants in terms of health, the environment and economic growth at macro as well as micro levels is often either unknown or ignored. Let´s raise awareness on this issue!