Malawi's generator puts dates on the megawatts it cannot deliver.

An offtaker buying Malawian electricity now has unit level dates for capacity it cannot count on. As of 22 August 2026, every EGENCO hydropower unit was running except Nkula B Unit 6, rated at 20MW, which developed a fault on 7 August 2026 and is out of service. Three other units are running below rating: Nkula A is making 24MW against an installed 35.1MW because its turbine shaft seals are worn.

Tedzani Units 5 and 6 together manage only 5MW, their intake still choked with debris and stones washed in by Cyclone Ana in 2022. Kapichira Unit 3 is 6MW short of rating after its original transformer failed in May 2025, with a lower rated unit fitted temporarily. The company attributes most of this to spare parts delays over two to three years, caused by foreign exchange shortages.

On this reading, the halted unit and the two quantified derates remove about 37MW from a hydro fleet rated at 390.15MW, with the Tedzani shortfall on top and unquantified. The implication is a thinner reserve margin, the cushion of spare plant that keeps supply ahead of demand, and grid reliability that rests on repair dates.

Spares for Nkula A Units 1, 2 and 3 were fully paid by July 2026 and shipped for arrival in September 2026, with full output due by the end of that month. Bearing parts and the shaft from Nkula B Unit 6 go to the manufacturer's workshop in South Africa, returning the unit in the first week of October 2026. A contractor is mobilising equipment to clear the Tedzani intake by December 2026, with faulty diesel sets due back the same month.

Kapichira Unit 3 is the outlier: generator transformers are built to order on lead times above twelve months, so the replacement is expected in October 2027 and full capacity in December 2027. The foreign exchange came through the central bank, with nearly USD 8.1 million allocated for spares and the critical items paid for.

Government has reassigned the 300MW Kam'mwamba coal project to EGENCO, which had secured land and completed feasibility studies before losing it three years ago. The near dates are testable: September and October 2026 either return the Nkula units or they do not. The transformer is the one to price, because it holds a known 6MW gap open until the end of 2027.