Reactivates Chipembe

Thirty years after it the Chipembe irrigation system came to a halt, the government of Cabo Delgado has managed to revive the favourite agricultural project of the first president of the Republic of Mozambique, Samora Machel.

Located in the district of Balama, south of Cabo Delgado, the Chipembe project irrigated about 2,00 hectares of land, and has finally been revived after decades of neglect.

After rehabilitating the dam’s floodgates, which had recently been capable of storing only about 25,000 cubic metres of water, or half the amount originally envisaged, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with Plexus, the only company that exports cotton from the province.

The concession of 600 hectares to the private sector has reactivated the irrigation system, hopefully securing further investment in agriculture and accomplishing Samora Machel’s dream of increasing food production and feeding the people.

High voltage line to feed Niassa

A new electricity sub-station with a capacity of 110 kV is under construction in the district of Marrupa in the northern Mozambican province of Niassa.

According to Felisberto Uissitomo from Mozambique’s publicly owned electricity company, EDM, the cost of building the sub-station will be 18 million US dollars.

He added that a new high voltage power line will carry electricity over a distance of 300 kilometres between the districts of Cuambe and Marrupa. This will improve the quality and reliability of the power supply for the districts of Cuamba, Metarica, Maua, Marrupa, Mecula, and Nipepe.

Electricity to these districts comes along a 33-kV medium tension power line which lacks the capacity to serve the area.

Uissitomo told the public television broadcaster TVM that hundreds of families have already received compensation for the new transmission line going through their property.

Construction of the sub-station and line will be completed by the end of next year.

US grant for solar power

The United States embassy in Maputo announced on Friday that the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to the Mozambican company WHN Solar, S.A. for a feasibility study to assess the viability of a solar photovoltaic plant of up to 100 megawatts.

This solar power station, the embassy release added, will be developed in increments of 20-40 megawatts and will include an associated energy storage facility located on the property of Nacala International Airport in the northern province of Nampula.The feasibility study will support the development of the Mozambican national electricity grid in the Nacala region, which, according to the release, “suffers from a lack of sufficient generation capacity and stability issues”. The energy storage component of the project is intended to help stabilize the grid.WHN Solar has selected the US company HDR International, Inc., a multidisciplinary engineering, environmental, and consulting firm, to conduct the feasibility study.

“USTDA is pleased to support this important project that will help diversify Mozambique’s energy generation mix,” said Paul Marin, USTDA’s Acting Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. “At the same time, the project represents business opportunities for U.S. companies in a key sector in Mozambique.”Ntanzi Carrilho, the Executive Director and CEO of WHN Solar, thanked USTDA, declaring that “With USTDA’s support, we hope to improve the quality and security of power supply in the region, with a positive impact on local communities.”Carrilho and US Ambassador Dean Pittman, acting on behalf of USTDA, signed the grant agreement in Maputo on Friday.