MEGA (Mulanje Electricity Generation Agency)
MEGA produces and distributes electricity to remote areas at the Mulanje Mountain tea growing areas, serving smallholder farmers and the rural population. Their Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority approved tariff is divided into a lower level to social services, a medium level to households and a higher level to local enterprises.
The business model, developed together with DfID Business Innovation Facility (BIF), determines the break even after 1 MW distributed to 5,000 connections. After 2 years, MEGA reached 25% of that target.
- Connecting 740 households / 6,350 people to uninterrupted power supply
- Providing access to electricity to five primary schools / 1,965 children
- Powering one clinic to enable a quality health service to over 250 people 24 hours per day
- Generating a total 260 kVa capacity of clean hydro-energy
- Adopting conservation agriculture, perennial tea planting, & fruit tree growing
- Planting 120,000+ seedlings for mountain cedar cloud forest enrichment
- Training 1,200 smallholder farmers in farmer field schools (over 50% women)
- Installing a 11 km distribution mini-grid
- Establishing a prepaid metering system with three tariffs (commerce, household and social)
- Enabling 56 new enterprises using electricity to enter into business, including maize mills, welders, barbershops, saloons, grocery shops, video shows and battery charging centres
Partners
Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) is responsible for biodiversity conservation and enables improved water access for optimised electricity production.
Practical Action is a technical consultancy that assists in the engineering, distribution, productive use and social justice aspects of MEGA's work
