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How close is Mphanda Nkuwa to financing its 1,500MW on the Zambezi?

26th September, 2026

Mozambique’s 1,500MW Mphanda Nkuwa run-of-river scheme, 60km downstream of Cahora Bassa, is working through its financing with the African Development Bank. A credit enhancement facility discussed in Maputo in February is meant to bring private lenders into a $4.5 billion project designed to export baseload power across Southern Africa.

Once running, Mphanda Nkuwa will sit on the Zambezi 60km downstream of Cahora Bassa and 60km from Tete, and when the consortium signed its development agreement in 2023 the plant was expected to lift Mozambique’s available generating capacity by more than half.

The African Development Bank describes the 1,500MW run-of-river plant as a source of competitive power for industry and of baseload exports into the Southern African Power Pool, earning Mozambique hard currency.

At a session in London in June 2025, held with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Mozambique’s government put financial close in 2027 and commercial operation in 2032.

The bank brought the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, EDM and the project’s implementation office together in Maputo on 5 February to operationalise a credit enhancement facility, designed to lower the risk for private lenders and bring down the cost of the power.

The concession dates to 2023, when Mozambique chose a consortium led by EDF, with TotalEnergies and Sumitomo, to hold 70% alongside EDM and Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa with 30%, and the European Union and European Investment Bank announced €500 million for the plant and its transmission line.

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