New renewable energy plants will be built in Mozambique. This will be part of the plan of the state-owned Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) to deploy an installed capacity of 600 MW, including 200 MW of renewable energy by 2030. The information comes from Olga Utchavo, EDM’s director of renewable energy, who says the utility is expected to invest $40 million in the construction of solar and wind farms.
“We have the challenge of building the first solar power plant using electricity storage in Cuamba town, Niassa, with a capacity of 15MW. We have the Dondo plant in Sofala and the Lichinga plant in Niassa, which are the next to be installed. In the city of Namaacha, Maputo, a wind project is being planned and will soon move to financial close and then to the construction phase,” explains Olga Utchavo.
Several concessions awarded under PROLER
These renewable energy plants will be built under the Programme for the Promotion of Renewable Energy by Auction (PROLER) implemented by the state-owned company EDM, in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD). The programme, funded by the European Union (EU), previously targeted a production capacity of 120 MWp from three solar plants in the north of the country, near the towns of Dondo, Nacala and Lichinga.
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A fourth site has been selected for the deployment of a wind project. The development of the Dondo solar project has been entrusted to Total Eren. The subsidiary of the French oil company TotalEnergies will build a 40 MWp solar power plant about 30 km from the port city of Beira.
The Metoro solar project, also developed under the PROLER programme, entered its operational phase a few weeks ago in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the north-east of the country. The 41 MWp solar plant was built by the French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen, which sells the electricity produced to EDM. The Mozambican state-owned company wants to use these new plants to accelerate the electrification of Mozambique. This East African country has an electricity access rate of 30.6% according to the World Bank’s 2020 report.
Jean Marie Takouleu