Swazi Observer

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‘KEEP THE LIGHTS ON’

By SILINDZELWE NXUMALO | 2023-04-26

Outgoing Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) Board Chairman Dr Phil Mnisi has urged his successor P to prioritise ensuring that Eswatini has sufficient power supply.

Mnisi, the Governor of Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), has stated that a compelling goal for EEC was the delivery of base load power that meets all the country’s electricity demand and ensuring that they give all citizens 100 per cent access to electricity.

“This includes the uninterrupted availability of electricity for industrial use. This is crucial for us to further industrialise the country and create employment,” said Mnisi during an interview.

Mnisi said this spoke to doing everything possible to ensure that the company has sufficient generation of electricity within the country and progress to a point where the needs of Eswatini, for industrial, commercial, and domestic use, are met.

“I believe EEC is well poised for this success. While EEC is a state-owned enterprise, it has chosen to inject a private sector mindset in terms of delivering services and executing the company’s mandate. This is in accordance with the EEC strategy, which is communicated, cascaded, measured, and reported on an ongoing basis,” emphasised Mnisi.

He stated that as he leaves the board, there were plans which were underway for the increase in power generation, post 2025, to ensure the security of supply.

“These include Maguga Hydro Project where a feasibility study was done in 2020 and 10MW of expansion to the existing hydro plants was identified. The second portion consisted of constructing a canal and a weir downstream with a 23MW plant,” he said.

project
He explained that the total proposed generation of the expansion and the lower Maguga project was 33MW, the year 2022-2023 was dedicated to project preparation and sourcing of funding and the year 2023-2026 was engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning.

“Another plan underway is the Lower Maguduza Hydro project which follows an Independent Power Producer (IPP) approach and Middle Lusutfu Hydro Power (MLH) was selected through a tendering process.

The project is estimated to produce about 13.6MW of hydro generated energy and its commercial operation is expected in 2026,” he disclosed.

Mnisi added that other pending plans were the coal-fired thermal through which EEC continues to explore the coal-fired thermal plant whose implementation would take a phased approach and currently this project was under development with a plan to commercialise in 2026.

requirements
“Lastly, there is the Gas-Fired Thermal Power Plant where the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) was targeted to be about 250MW and targeted at addressing the base load requirements for the country.

The project was proposed instead of a coal fired power plant after it proved not feasible at that stage. The feasibility study for the project has not been completed, but estimated to be complete this year,” he explained.

Speaking about his two-year tenure in office as the board chairman, Mnisi said it had been a privilege to serve the country.

“It was exciting, challenging, and a lot of learning within a short space of time,” he said.
He listed highlights in his term that included the development of the company’s new five- year strategy, Vutsela Reloaded 2022-2027, securing funding for Maguga Expansion wherein an additional 10MW generation capacity would be added to Maguga Power Station and focusing the company to redouble its efforts in delivering base load projects.

load
“These are plants that will produce and deliver electricity year round and in this respect, contribute to the ultimate delivery of 300MW base load for the country,” he said.
Mnisi stated that the EEC Board had demonstrated amazing commitment to its oversight function geared at ensuring that EEC was managed and operated effectively.

“In a nutshell, much of what we have achieved over the past two years has set the foundation placing the EEC in a position to generate electricity that satisfies the country’s full current and mid-term electricity demand, and ultimately minimise or reduce dependency from other external sources,” said Mnisi.

He further added that during his term, there were a number of projects which were successfully executed while others were still in the pipeline.

“The full commissioning and project closure of the 10MW Lavumisa solar PV project was significant. Completion of various depots and substations that both decentralise services and increase the quality of electricity supply and our service were also satisfactory,” he said.

He said these included the Malkerns, Siphocosini, Pigg’s Peak substations and the new Mankayane depot that has meant customers from Sicunusa, Mgazini, and other areas in the Mankayane sub-region, now no longer have to wait for a technician to come from over 50 kilometres away to resolve their fault as was previously the case.

route
“Resumption of the construction of Edwaleni – Stonehenge 132kW transmission line that will be providing an alternative supply route to the capital city, Mbabane, and greater Northern Hhohho region as well as the commencement of the Network Reinforcement and Access Project (NRAP) that will not only deliver the Nhlangano – Lavumisa 132kW transmission line, two multi-million substations and installation of ready boards to homesteads of those identified to be indigent in the project area are some of the successfully executed projects,” he added.

He concluded by stating that projects that he has left in the pipeline included rehabilitating the Ferreira canal, supplying water to Edwaleni and Maguduza power stations.

“This canal was developed in the 1960s and is now in need of major rehabilitation, strengthening the North-Eastern Grid Reinforcement Project whereby a transmission line on steel monopoles is proposed from Maliyaduma to Sihhoye. Upscaling of the smart meter pilot project, presently covering certain areas in Matsapha and Manzini, is also envisaged,” he explained.

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