What is Malawi's energy use?

Malawi’s energy use is dominated by biomass (predominantly wood and charcoal). It accounted for 86% of all final use in 2020, compared to 10% for oil products, 3% for electricity and 1% for coal. For households the importance of biomass is even starker: it accounts for nearly all (99%) of energy used in homes, across the whole of the country.

Which sector consumes the most energy in Malawi?

As can be seen in Figure 1.5 below, the residential or household sector is the main consumer of energy in Malawi, accounting for 80% (3489.9 kToe), followed by industry and transport, both accounting for 9% of all final consumption. Other sectors, commercial and agriculture, accounted for 2% of all final energy use.

How much energy does Malawi use?

Electricity was both imported and exported, but in small quantities, so not visible in the figure, with exports of 1.7 kToe and imports of 0.9 kToe. Malawi’s total final consumption of energy, as shown in Figure 1.4, is the energy that was used by households, in transport and businesses. In 2020, it amounted to 4337.7 kToe.

What is the energy content of biomass in Malawi?

Understanding the energy content of biomass requires a calorific value (CV). However, currently no estimates of the CV’s for biomass exist in Malawi. As such, default value from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which are the default AFREC values have been used. These are 13.8 MJ/Kg for wood and 29.5 MJ/Kg for charcoal.

What is primary energy production in Malawi?

Primary energy production covers the fuels sourced from energy resources within Malawi. It covers the collection of wood, mining of coal and electricity generated from natural resources, such as hydro and solar.

How can Malawi diversify its energy mix?

The government of Malawi has recognized this challenge and has made efforts to diversify the country’s electricity mix by promoting the use of renewable energy sources. Currently, JCM solar is feeding 80MW into the grid and Serengeti is feeding in 21MW. EGENCO also supplies 1.3 MW from solar, to Chizumulu and Likoma Islands.