On Thursday, 13 August 2026, energy regulators and utility teams from Malawi and Belize came together virtually for a knowledge exchange on the Kanengo BESS deployment from inception to commissioning. All motivated by Belize’s pipeline 45MW BESS project to address challenges similar to those being addressed by the Kanengo BESS in Malawi.
Hosted at the Southern Africa BESS Centre of Excellence (SABESS CoE) Mzuzu University in collaboration with the The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEA) and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), the event connected Malawi’s energy regulator, Malawi Revenue Authority (MERA) and national utility, ESCOM Malawi Limited (Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi) with colleagues from Belize Electricity Limited, Belize Public Utilities Commission, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Public Utilities, .
ESCOM went through Malawi’s journey to its 20MW/40MWh Kanengo BESS in Lilongwe – the grid challenges that made the case for storage, the procurement and construction hurdles along the way, and the lessons learned in getting it completed. MERA followed with the regulatory side of setting up Malawi’s first grid-scale battery storage system, licensing around BESS, and making sure it was integrated safely.
This is exactly what the SABESS CoE is here to do: capture lessons from projects such as the Kanengo BESS and make the lessons available to all stakeholders with interest in BESS development.
