Malawi's energy consumption

• Official Name: Republic of Malawi.

Summary: Malawi depends on hydropower for its electricity, importing petroleum and producing only a fifth of the country’s coal consumption. Rural areas in Malawi depend on biomass-based energy sources like firewood, agricultural residues, and industrial wastes.

Compared to the standards of Africa, Malawi’s access to energy is minute. Electricity only reached about 14 percent of the population of 21.7 million in 2022. An estimated 54 percent of urban areas had electric service, compared to 5.6 percent of rural areas, according to the World Factbook in 2025. Those without service relied on wood fuel for daily household energy needs. Almost all of Malawi’s electricity is generated from hydropower. Thermal generators running on petroleum fuels (primarily diesel and gasoline) are used by a few commercial and industrial enterprises; photovoltaic (PV) systems are used in modular form for telecommunications, lighting, and water pumping in rural areas not connected to the grid. There is low utilization of renewable energy sources, although the potential exists for such renewables. Only a small fraction of wind power was used in water pumping.

Electricity supply in Malawi is dominated by a publicly owned utility company, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), which was established by an act of Parliament in 1957. There are six hydropower plants along the Shire River and one along the Wovwe River. Electricity is transmitted principally through the 132-kilovolt and 66-kilovolt network and distributed at 33 kilovolts, 11 kilovolts, and 400/230 volts. According to the World Factbook, Malawi had a 2023 generating capacity of 731,000 kilowatts of electricity, of which 92.2 percent came from hydropower).

There are no known oil reserves and no natural gas production in the country, and Malawi imports all of its refined petroleum products. Until 1999, the Petroleum Control Commission was the only distributor of imported petroleum. Malawi produced about 3 percent of ethanol locally, which is blended with imported petroleum. The country has a total ethanol production capacity of 18 million liters annually. Although the existence of bituminous coal reserves was known for many years, mining did not begin until 1985. Malawi has 1 billion metric tons of coal reserves, of which 22 million tons were proven reserves of bituminous coal. Annual production was approximately 55,000 tons from two coal mines near Livingstonia, meeting only 20 percent of the country’s total requirements. The remaining coal demand was supplied from imported sources.

Firewood, charcoal, and other agricultural and industrial wastes account for 97 percent of the country’s total energy supply. More than a third of the biomass resources for energy come from agricultural residues. Forests provide energy for domestic consumption, including cooking and curing of tobacco, a major cash crop. Although there is good potential for other renewable energy from photovoltaic power and wind, these have not been fully utilized and supply only a small amount of the country’s energy. Biogas is yet another source of energy and is consumed in rural areas of Malawi.

Bibliography

Malawi. Petaluma, CA: World Trade Press, 1993-2010.

"Malawi." CIA World Factbook, 17 Sept. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/malawi/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.

"Malawi." International Energy Agency, 2025, www.iea.org/countries/malawi. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.

Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. "Malawi: Energy Country Profile." Our World in Data, 2025, ourworldindata.org/energy/country/malawi. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.