The Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Max Tonela, will Friday lay the first stone of construction of a solar power plant in Cuamba, northern Portugal, a government source told Lusa.
The facility located in Niassa province, in the north of the country, will have a capacity of 15 megawatts, is budgeted at US$32 million and will channel the electricity produced to the national grid.
The project is the result of funding from the Emerging Africa Infrastructure fund, an international financial institution.
“The construction of the Cuamba solar plant is another step that the country takes to strengthen the production of electricity from renewable sources,” the source said.
The plant will be the third “large-scale” projected in the country (i.e. with capacity to produce a minimum of 15 megawatts from solar sources), after the entry into operation of an infrastructure that generates 40 megawatts in Mocuba, in the province of Zambézia, central region, and the laying of the first stone in the district of Metoro, in the province of Cabo Delgado, north of the country, in August 2020.
“These initiatives reflect the seriousness of the government’s commitment to clean energy,” he added.
On the other hand, the projects promoted by the Mozambican government in the area of renewable energy are another contribution to achieving the goal of universal access to energy, which aims to bring electric light to all Mozambican homes by 2030, he concluded.
Work on the Cuamba solar power plant will last 12 months and will create 100 jobs during construction and ten in the operating phase.
The structure will be operated by Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and by international companies Globeleq and Source Energy
