Certification could delay PCL’s 50MW solar project

Press Corporation plc’s (PCL) 50-megawatts (MW) solar power project is facing delays as government is yet to issue an implementation agreement, a key document needed to secure investor confidence and bankable feasibility study.

In an e-mail response on Thursday, PCL chief executive officer Ronald Mangani said the project has, nonetheless, registered progress in corporate structure, technical design and financing mobilisation, but said the main challenge is agreement.

He said: “Potential partners for equity and debt both local and international have been lining up and their final commitments await the conclusion of feasibility study and the existence of the agreement.

“The implementation agreement is critical to the bankability of the project. The authorities have been fully engaged on this.”

Mangani said the $55.1 million (about K100 billion) project at Nkhoma in Lilongwe is still within its timeline for commissioning in October this year.

But he said that will depend on whether the Malawi Government will issue the implementation agreement timely.

Mangani: Potential partners for equity and debt have been lining up. | Nation

“Construction and commissioning timelines will be firmed up once the implementation agreement is secured because that will mean attainment of the financial close of the project,” he said.

Ministry of Energy spokesperson Joana Thaundi said in an interview on Friday that the project’s implementation agreement is in its final stages of approval.

“There are a number of implementation agreements to work on and the plan is to clear all of them within six months,” she said.

Thaundi said the agreement, which is not mandatory for a project, offers assurance for companies that they have government backing.

In a separate interview, Chamber of Mines and Energy national coordinator Grain Malunga lamented government’s system of frustrating critical projects, adding that the implementation agreement is key for PCL to execute the project.

“Investors would not risk their funds to projects that are uncertain. The implementation agreement is like project certification, so any significant delay could end up stalling the project,” he said.

Former Escom Limited chief executive officer Kandi Padambo said the country currently has a power deficit, a situation that should have prompted authorities to prioritise accelerating the promising clean energy projects.

In December 2024, PCL signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) Limited to be generating 50MW solar electricity a

During the signing of the agreement, Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority director of finance Zacharia Ng’oma described the energy project as historic for the country’s energy sector, which is dominated by foreign independent power producers.

“Press Corporation is the first local investor in electricity generation since the unbundling of Escom,” he said.

PCL solar power project will be run by its new subsidiary Press Energy Limited.

Malawi has total installed electricity generation capacity of about 554MW of which about 100MW is from solar, according Energy Generation Company Limited.

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