The construction for the Golomoti solar power project has begun. The project has a capacity of 20 MWp along with a battery storage system with a capacity of 5 MW/10MWh. It is located in the Dedza district, about 100 km south-east of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Golomoti project is being developed by JCM Power, a Canadian independent power producer and being financed by InfraCo Africa, an investment company of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG).
JCM and Infraco Africa have finalised a power purchase agreement with the state-owned Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM). The electricity produced by the project will be supplied to the Malawi’s national electricity grid through the Golomoti station, which will operate a 132 kV transmission line.
In Malawi, another 60 MWp solar power plant that has been approved and will be set up in Salima. It is being developed through a partnership between InfraCo Africa, JMC and Matswani Capital. This project is estimated to cost $40 million and will be located 75 km from the Lilongwe River
There are several benefits of integrating solar with an energy storage component to be able to effectively meet demand. Energy storage can charge at low demand with cheap renewable energy and discharge at high demand period when energy cost is high. Currently, energy storage technologies are in early stages of achieving economies of scale. As the costs come down, markets will expand, thus providing more opportunities to scale up.