Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) says it will take the company 10 days to repair the burst pipe at Nkula B Power Station.

The company said this on Tuesday when Minister of Energy Newton Kambala visited Nkula B Power Station to appreciate the extent of the damage on the burst bypass pipe.

“Preliminary assessments indicate that it will take 10 days to resolve the fault,” the company said.

The burst pipe on one of the five hydropower plants at the power station has led to the shutting-down of the power station.

Kambala during the visit commended the control engineers that were on duty at the time of the incident for not only noticing the fault but also taking quick action to prevent flooding of the power station.

The minister also expressed confidence in the engineers that they will resolve the problem.

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) said on Monday that the situation has led to a loss of 100MW of capacity which comes from Nkula B.

This has left ESCOM with 275MW against a forecast demand of 310MW, hence leading to blackouts across the country.