Short Term Investment Programme

Assignment

The objective of the project is to support economic growth and community development through a safer and broader power supply in the country. The programme is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, KfW (Germany) and the European Investment Bank.

The work is being performed at Norconsult’s office in Maputo together with Tractebel and in close collaboration with Norconsult’s engineers in both Norway and Poland. The project includes rehabilitation and expansion of the power supply to the capital Maputo and the cities of Tete and Beira in the Central Region.

Six transformer stations are being upgraded in all. 110 kV and 66 kV power
lines are being rehabilitated and the distribution grid and low-voltage grid
are being expanded, so that 3,000 new customers can be connected to
the power grid.

Solution

In March 2019, the cyclone Idai hit Mozambique. The cyclone caused massive destruction and entire villages were under water in Beira and the Beira corridor to Zimbabwe. Norconsult’s engineers in Mozambique were then asked to assist with mapping the damage to the power supply in the area.

In the critical phase after the catastrophe struck the country, the local expertise of our engineers was extremely important and contributed to quickly determining the extent of damage to the power supply. Good collaboration between Norwegian and Mozambican authorities, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and Norconsult meant that the project elements could be quickly re prioritised and changed in order to meet the new challenges after the cyclone.

Norconsult’s engineers in Poland are assisting with detail engineering design of the masts and are involved in upgrading transmission capacity in the Beira corridor with a 170-km 110 kV power line. Norconsult is now establishing a presence in Beira with employees who work locally in order to assist in the projects.