The Mozambican government-owned hydroelectric power company is looking at Eskom as a potential customer for the additional 1,245MW generation capacity that it plans to add to its existing plant at the Cahora Bassa Dam.

Eskom is already the biggest client of the Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa Dam plant, with about 60% of the power generated at the dam travelling more than 1,400km on two parallel power lines between Cahora Bassa in Songo, northern Mozambique and the Apollo substation near Pretoria.

Cahora Bassa has a 2,075MW generation capacity, and the Mozambican government is in discussions with the World Bank to raise money for the expansion of the dam's northern bank and the construction of a new hydropower plant at the Mphanda Nkuwa Dam. The latter dam is downstream from Cahora Bassa, also along the same Zambezi River, and is expected to generate 1,500MW of clean energy.

The expansion of the Cahora Bassa Dam scheme has received the backing of the World Bank and will increase generation capacity through the installation of three turning turbines - each generating 415MW. The projects are estimated to cost more than $6-billion.

With Eskom under pressure to keep...