Mozambique to sell more power to SA
South Africa’s state power utility is near a deal to buy more electricity from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa development in a bid to ease an energy crisis threatening Africa’s largest economy, a Mozambican official said on Tuesday.
Eskom is negotiating to buy an additional 250MW of electricity per day from Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), which runs the giant development in Mozambique’s northern Tete province, HCB chief executive Paulo Muxanga said.
“They [Eskom] have requested, and we are about to sign an agreement in less than a month to supply them with an additional 250MW,” Muxanga said.
HCB currently provides 1 100MW of power to Eskom, which has been forced to cut power across South Africa since the beginning of the year. The resulting blackouts caused large mines to shut down for five days and raised fears of an economic slowdown.
Mozambican officials are eager to upgrade the Cahora Bassa development, which suffered from decades of neglect and lack of investment.
