The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $350m grant from the International Development Association to support Malawi’s Mpatamanga Hydropower Storage Project (MHSP), a large infrastructure operation aiming to transform the country’s energy landscape and its economic development trajectory.

At completion, subject to private financing, MHSP will significantly increase the country’s installed capacity, delivering 1,544 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually. This additional energy will help supply electricity to over a million new households in the country and will create thousands of jobs.

MHSP was co-developed by the Government of Malawi and the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) as a public-private partnership with an expected overall cost of over $1.5bn including financing costs during construction.