Maputo, April 8, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambique’s electricity exports fell by 41% between January and September 2025, to around €275 million, due to the drought affecting the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Power Station (HCB), one of the largest dams in Africa.
According to data from the Bank of Mozambique’s latest report detailing the country’s exports, these sales in the first nine months of last year, amounting to US$318.2 million (€275 million), compare with US$535.3 million (€462.1 million) in the same period of 2024.
The central bank explains that these exports were influenced “by adverse hydrological conditions and technical problems experienced by one of the main suppliers, which limited the volume of energy available for export”.
The current rainy season in Mozambique has already enabled HCB to more than double the water levels stored in the dam, following historic lows caused by the drought.
“We are now recovering. We are approaching 50% [of capacity]; by the end of the rainy season, at the end of this month, we will likely be very close to 50%, having come from 20%,” said HCB’s chairman, Tomás Matola, on 17 March.
Tomás Matola said that this recovery was mainly driven by rainfall “upstream of the reservoir”, with the tributaries being “crucial to recovery”.
“We will then, throughout the year, generate power using that storage. We will see a reduction by the end of the year, but we believe that in the next rainy season we will see another recovery until we reach the desired storage levels again,” he stated, expressing his conviction that this reservoir and other projects in this energy hub, such as the neighbouring new Mphanda Nkuwa dam — also on the Zambezi River, in Tete province, with 1,500 MW — will meet the needs of ongoing projects and neighbouring countries, such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eswatini.
"And, above all, South Africa, where demand is very high. It is much higher than in all other countries in the region. Therefore, with these projects, we believe that we will indeed become an energy hub in the region. HCB's vision up to 2034, is that by then we will achieve a capacity of up to 4,000 MW [currently 2,075 MW],” he added, referring to plans for a new power station and a solar farm.
Electricity production in Mozambique fell by 25% in 2025, influenced by the lack of water in the HCB reservoir, following the “worst rainfall record” in 43 years, according to official information previously reported by Lusa.
In a 2025 budget implementation report, the Government noted that the country’s total electricity production stood at 14,408,381 megawatt-hours (MWh), representing 76.7% of the annual target, a 25.4% decrease compared to 2024.
“The low production was largely due to the poor performance of hydroelectric power stations, which, in the period under review, recorded a 72.3% execution rate and a 30.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2024,” the document states.
The country “is the largest producer of hydroelectricity in southern Africa” and “almost all its production comes from the HCB”, being “supplemented by other small dams under the management” of Eletricidade de Mozambique, the report adds.
In 2025, according to the same text, hydroelectric power stations generated 11,207,934 MWh, 30.7% less than in 2024, a performance explained “largely by the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which have been affecting the HCB power station since 2023”.
“The lack of rainfall in the Zambezi basin [where the HCB plant operates] reduced water availability in the country’s main reservoirs (Corumana, Mavuzi and Chicamba), culminating in the 2024/25 hydrological year with the lowest rainfall recorded in the last 43 years,” adds the central bank’s report.
The lack of affordable energy was also at the heart of a dispute that led Mozal, the country’s largest industrial firm, to suspend operations from 15 March, affecting more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.
PVJ/LYT // AYLS
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