In the first half of this year, Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) recorded hydroelectric production of 8013 GWh, a figure that exceeds the half-year production plan by 14.8% and by 0.6% compared to the same period in 2022.
The chairman of HCB’s Board of Directors (PCA), Boavida Muhambe, quoted in the statement released this Tuesday (29), to which DE had access, said that the hydroelectric plant is currently in the final stages of preparing the implementation of projects to rehabilitate and modernize its electricity generation plant, which will have a multiplier impact on its production performance, while at the same time it has put in its portfolio the prospect of carrying out short- and medium-term energy production projects using alternative sources, in particular the construction of a photo-voltaic power station of up to 400 MW, with the possibility of developing it in the future.
For this reason, in the long term, “the company is conducting strategic reflections in order to reactivate the Cahora Bassa Norte project, to meet the growing energy demand in Mozambique and the region, in the face of the crisis we have been witnessing”.
With regard to the reservoir’s water resources, HCB ended the first half of 2023 with 92.5% of its useful volume in storage.
“This storage corresponds to the share of the water surface in the reservoir of 324.5 meters in relation to the average sea level, and appears to be satisfactory to guarantee the budgeted production by the end of the year, estimated at 14,291 GWh,” the HCB statement also said.
The Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant is currently the largest electricity producer in Mozambique and has a capacity of 2000 MW, of which almost 250 MW is supplied locally, 1000 MW to South Africa and 400 MW to Zimbabwe.
