ENERGY regarding gas availability from the Rovuma basin of southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique , a clear generation investment plan will be implemented to sustain the potential energy demand for the centre and northern region as well as exports ,” comments Magala .
GROWTH OF HYDROPOWER The release of the Renewable Energy Atlas of Mozambique by the Government of Mozambique ( GoM ) in 2014 highlights how local authorities are supporting the development of renewable projects , particularly around the technical and economic prefeasibility levels of utilising renewable sources . It has also stated that the potential of renewable sources is 10GW for hydropower , 27GW for solar power , 5GW for wind power and 2GW within biomass energy .
Hydropower has become an essential resource in the bid to cater towards rapid energy consumption growth across the country . Since 2014 , EDM and government owned Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa ( HCB ) have provided essential energy through the development of the Cahora Bassa hydro dam , where 500MW will be distributed across Mozambique , with the remaining 1,575MW going to adjacent countries . However , Mozambique ’ s allocation of hydropower will need to be increased due to the country ’ s increasing rise in demand .
“ EDM needs an additional allocation in the order of 250MW from Cahora Bassa to reduce the cost of power acquisition to supply the load in Mozambique ,” explains Magala . “ Since 2011 , the power supply of internal consumption is based either on emergency of supply or from new independent power producers , which is unsustainable .”
The Mphanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric Dam project will also provide a number of advantages for EDM and form part of a wider objective to construct additional dams . Located downstream from Cahora Bassa on the Zambezi river , the project will provide 1,500MW of clean and renewable energy for local domestic growth and export to the region “ The additional power generation
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