Maputo, 20 Sep (AIM) – Almost 30 percent of the power generated by Mozambique’s publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, in 2022 was exported to the regional market, at a time when the government is aiming to turn the country into a regional energy hub.
According to the company’s report and accounts, the electricity generated in 2022 amounted to 8,146 GigaWatt-hours (GWh), an increase of six per cent compared to 2021, and of this total 1,730 GWh were exported to neighbouring countries, five per cent more than last year.
“The weight of EDM’s electricity exports, supplied to other companies or consumers operating in the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), covered by Southern African energy market agreements, totalled 27 per cent of the 2022 total”, reads the document, adding that “the surplus energy available at times of low consumption is optimised through bilateral export agreements for the regional market”
The company also explains that “maximising the availability of the additional 150 non-firm megawatts from the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant, in the central province of Tete, at times of low national demand, has contributed to the five per cent increase in exports compared to 2021”
In terms of demand, the total power billed increased by seven per cent compared to the same period in 2021, to 6,350 GWh. Thus, taking into account the total production of 8,146 GWh in 2022, over 20 per cent of the electricity produced by EDM was not invoiced by the company.
The report also identifies various constraints that are impacting the company’s operations, such as the “high debts owed by state institutions”, especially in the areas of water supply and health, but also the “difficulty in collecting the debt owed by the Ministry of Defence”.
It also acknowledges that the “lack of funds for the purchase of maintenance equipment and meters, the poor recovery of retroactive energy debt, results in the exponential growth of debt in the system.”
According to EDM, of the 2,075 MW of installed capacity at the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant, “only 650 MW are available for the national market, which has forced us to resort to the very expensive power from Independent Energy Producers, to respond to the growing demand which, in 2022, will reach around 1,044 MW.”
Cahora Bassa is not owned by EDM, but is a separate public company. Most of the power it generates is sold to South Africa.
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