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Maputo Province to Get 60 MW Solar Farm Costing €102M

Maputo Province to Get 60 MW Solar Farm Costing €102M

The state-owned company Eletricidade de Moçambique plans to invest $110.6 million (€102 million) with private companies to install a 60 MW solar power plant next to the Corumana dam in Maputo province.

According to the technical summary of the environmental impact study in public consultation, to which Lusa had access on Friday, this project involves the private companies of VBC through the operating entity Central Solar de Corumana, in addition to the state-owned electricity company.

The document said that the project falls within the objectives of the Mozambican government’s Strategic Plan for the energy sector: “This is a renewable energy project that will help the Mozambican government achieve its goal of universal electrification by 2030 and will enable the direct and indirect creation of more jobs, contributing to the economic growth of the Moamba district and Maputo province.”

The solar plant will be located on around 142 hectares next to the R802 road linking Sábiè to Massingir in Matunganhane, Moamba district, 6.5 kilometres from the Corumana dam.

Last year, Mozambique had 125 MW of solar power projects, with 80 MW already connected to the grid.

Electricity production through solar parks in Mozambique grew by almost 14% in the first quarter of 2024 but still accounts for less than 0.5% of the total, according to official figures previously reported by Lusa.

According to the budget execution report for January to March, electricity production at the country’s six large solar parks and other smaller plants totalled 19,688 MegaWatt-hours (MWh), compared to 17,328 MWh in the first three months of 2023.

Despite the production growth, solar parks accounted for only 0.4% of total production in Mozambique in the first quarter, led by hydroelectric plants, with 84.6%, and essentially the Cahora-Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (82.2% of total electricity production up to March).

Mozambique plans to build solar power stations in at least five parts of the country by 2030, with an estimated capacity of 1,000 MW of electricity production, promising a “true solar revolution”.

“Accelerating these types of projects to a larger scale is the simplest way to solve Mozambique’s strategic dilemma after 2030: having to choose between green energy for export or supplying energy to industrial consumers,” according to the Energy Transition Strategy (ETS), reported by Lusa in February.

The new strategy, which foresees investments of around $80 billion (€73 billion) by 2050, also points to the development, in a first phase, by 2030, of “at least” 1,000 MW of new solar photovoltaic capacity in Dondo, Lichinga, Manje, Cuamba, Zitundo and other locations “to be identified”, and 200 to 500 MW of new onshore wind power capacity, namely in Inhambane, Lagoa Pathi.

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“Large industrial investors who need large amounts of green electricity should be encouraged, through a favourable business and regulatory environment, to develop large-scale solar and wind energy projects,” the document adds.

The aim is to have at least 7.5 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity installed in Mozambique by 2050 and up to 2.5 GW of wind power capacity.

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