An Overview of the Energy Sector in Malawi

Abstract

This paper presents the status of the energy sector in Malawi which is not effectively contributing to the national economic development because it is unreliable and insufficient hence not able to meet the energy demand. About 83% of Malawi ’s population live in rural areas and rely on fuel wood for energy supply. High reliance on biomass has had negative environmental impacts through indoor pollution, deforestation, soil erosion leading to high soil sediment loads to water bodies resulting in poor water quality in rivers and lakes. Electricity supply is much less than demand resulting in deficient and unreliable supply. Malawi is endowed with a number of renewable energy resources yet utilization of these resources is still a major challenge. Little progress has been made in improving the energy supply situation due to a number of reasons, main ones being poverty, lack of political will and wrong approaches in addressing the energy problem. Most current approaches aim at improving the current situation but our opinion would be to develop new strategies to shift the energy situation from its present condition to the desired status. The paper starts with an introduction, then status of the energy sector, then goes on to discuss energy development efforts according to sectors and finally gives a conclusion.