The US Trade and Development Agency has awarded a grant to the Malawi government to fund a feasibility study to support the development of a hydropower plant in the Nkhata Bay District in the country’s Northern Region.
The grant was made to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy, which has selected Water Wheel International, a U.S. hydropower developer headquartered in Bedford, Texas, to carry out the feasibility study. The first phase of the hydropower project on the Luweya River will consist of a 15-megawatt run-of-river system, which could be expanded in a second phase to 35MW using Water Wheel system.
“This grant represents an important step forward in expanding business linkages between Malawi and the United States and our on-going partnership in the energy sector,” said US Charge d’Affaires Michael Gonzales of the grant signing ceremony. “The project will also benefit from – and expand upon – the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s infrastructure development and power sector reform projects, which are improving the availability, reliability and quality of Malawi’s electric power supply.”