--- title: Malawi Turns On Its First Grid Battery to Stop Wasting Renewable Power description: Malawi has commissioned a 20 MW battery at Kanengo to stop the grid curtailing renewable power and to cut diesel use, funded by a $20 million grant. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-07-26T21:21:50.681Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/malawi-first-grid-battery-kanengo-bess image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/malawi-kanengo-battery-storage-commissioning-45961.webp categories: Green Tech content_type: News region: East Africa publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- Malawi has commissioned its first standalone utility-scale battery, a 20 MW and 40 MWh installation at Kanengo in Lilongwe. It was switched on at a ceremony on 24 July presided over by the energy minister, Jean Chifuniro Mathanga. The battery was installed by ESCOM, the state utility responsible for transmitting, distributing and selling electricity in Malawi, with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. The Alliance put up a $20 million grant, money given rather than lent, on the argument that taking the risk out of a first project is what makes the ones after it financeable. It is a nonprofit set up in 2021 by the Rockefeller Foundation, the IKEA Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund, and says it now runs 130 projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Alliance says the battery unlocks about 100 MW of existing renewable generation that the grid previously could not take, and that it will avoid more than 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. ## Why Grids Curtail Renewable Power A grid has to match supply and demand at every moment. Renewable output does not cooperate: solar rises and falls with the sun, and hydropower, which Malawi depends on, follows the rivers. When a system cannot absorb the swings, the operator turns generation down and loses power that has already been produced. That is curtailment, and in Malawi it cost the utility twice, because the electricity it could not take from renewable generation it often had to make instead with diesel. A battery changes that arithmetic. It takes surplus power when there is more than the grid can use and returns it when demand rises or output drops, which holds voltage steady on the feeder lines and lets the system accept more renewable generation than it otherwise could. “By storing and deploying power instantaneously, we are stabilising feeder voltages, reducing system losses, and unlocking about 100 MW of renewable generation that was previously constrained,” says Eng. William Kayipa, ESCOM's chief executive. ## Malawi's Electricity Access Problem Malawi is one of the least electrified countries in the world. World Bank data put access to electricity at 15.6% of the population in 2024, up from 11.2% in 2019. ESCOM is working to a target of 70% access by 2030, which needs generation, connections, and a grid steady enough to carry them. The project also anchors a Southern Africa BESS Centre of Excellence at Mzuzu University, intended to develop the skills to run battery storage and to share what the Kanengo installation teaches with utilities elsewhere on the continent. “Malawi's BESS delivers reliable power for hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes without the interruptions, noise, fumes, and cost of diesel generators,” says Carol Koech, the Alliance's vice-president for Africa. ## What Mission 300 Means for African Grids Nearly 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity. Under [Mission 300](https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/energizingafrica), the World Bank Group is aiming to connect 250 million of them by 2030 and the African Development Bank Group a further 50 million. Malawi's battery sits inside that programme, and inside the Alliance's own BESS Consortium, which exists to get storage into low and middle income countries. Connections are the headline number in Mission 300, and a connection delivers only what the grid behind it can hold. Storage is the part of that grid that decides whether renewable capacity already standing in a country reaches the people newly attached to it. > "For years, grid instability forced us to curtail renewable energy we had already generated and to fall back on costly diesel at the expense of our consumers and our climate commitments." > — Eng. William Kayipa, Chief Executive, ESCOM More on the Alliance's storage projects is at [energyalliance.org](https://energyalliance.org). ## FAQ **Q: What is a battery energy storage system?** A battery energy storage system, usually shortened to BESS, is a large rechargeable battery wired into the electricity grid. It charges when generation exceeds demand and discharges when demand rises or generation falls, which keeps voltage stable and means the operator does not have to switch off wind, solar or hydro output the system cannot immediately use. Malawi's installation at Kanengo is rated at 20 MW of power and 40 MWh of stored energy. **Q: How many people in Malawi have electricity?** World Bank data put access at 15.6% of the population in 2024, up from 11.2% in 2019. ESCOM, the national utility, is working to a target of 70% by 2030. Reaching it needs more than new connections, because the grid also has to be stable enough to supply them without falling back on diesel generators. **Q: What is Mission 300?** Mission 300 is a programme to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030. The World Bank Group is responsible for 250 million of that total and the African Development Bank Group for 50 million. Nearly 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa currently live without an electricity supply.