Mozambique has committed to achieve the seventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which proposes universal access to energy by 2030. However, this task has not been easy considering the huge geographical area of difficult access that has not yet benefited from electricity, which is why the company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) is still working hard to provide this service in these points.
The country has made significant efforts in recent years towards electrification. The data on the energy sector on the energypedia.com portal illustrate this evolution, indicating that the electrification rate has increased from 5% in 2001 to 24% in 2017 and 29% in 2019, and is currently around 44%. And yet, access to electricity remains low, concentrated mainly in urban areas. In 2019, 72% of the urban population had access to electricity compared to 5% of the rural population.
This imbalance represents a major challenge to achieving the electrification of the country by 2030, considering that the vast majority of Mozambique’s population – 63% in 2019 – lives in rural areas.
The Government has realised that, on its own, it will not be able to electrify the entire country by 2030. Therefore, it has designed strategies to achieve its goal, seeking to explore other sources of energy, and integrating the private sector in providing it.
It was through this prism that Maputo was the stage for debates last week, when it hosted the First Regional Conference on the Regulatory Framework for the Off-Grid Energy Sector.
In the scope of this conference, the National Energy Fund and the Energy Regulatory Authority (FUNAE) decided to take, last Tuesday, 22nd of November, the participants (especially international ones) to know the Photovoltaic Central of the Administrative Post of Calanga, in Manhiça district, a mini-grid that supplies the surrounding communities.
“This is the Photovoltaic Power Plant of Calanga. Nominally, we have 60 kilowatts, but the generation is 67 kilowatts. This power station is on a plot of land of about 1ha and is fenced off because it must guarantee security,” began João de Lima, a FUNAE technician, explaining that “the building has an administrative part, and another part has batteries, accumulators and a generator, where during the day they are charged and at night they electrify the houses. For cases in which we stay three successive days without irradiation or sunlight, the power station has the capacity to supply energy during that period”.
Continuing his explanation, João de Lima said that “we have a generator to charge the batteries and, in some cases, feed the network. This plant has SMA converters (an energy meter that determines precise electrical measurement values for each phase conductor and in the form of set values, and communicates them via ethernet on a local network), and a remote monitoring system. Only the data manager is having problems, as it is not giving a signal”. Even so, he stressed: “this photovoltaic power station has been operational for a year and a half now. It is reliable, modern and covers around six kilometres, has 274 panels with 250 watts, and so far benefits 101 clients. For the construction of this plant, an investment of 96 million meticais from the State Budget was made.”
“The justification for installing this mini-grid has to do with the fact that the national grid is 30 kilometres away and, if in the national electrification strategy the remote areas are not included to benefit from the national grid within five years, it is decided to install the mini-grid”, said João de Lima.
But what happens when the national grid arrives? “The standard of this mini-grid is the national grid. When it arrives, it will be a question of making the interconnection”, replied João de Lima, promising that “FUNAE will have another 25 mini-grids installed in the next few years”.
Regarding the involvement of the private sector in the energy distribution, the representative of the Energy Regulatory Authority (ARENE), Carlos Xerinda, who was also part of the delegation that visited the power plant, considered that “the involvement of the private sector in the energy distribution will help a lot, because the Government alone cannot guarantee that all the people have access to energy. Therefore, it will be important that the private sector comes to support,” he said.
Carlos Xerinda justified his position by the fact that the private sector has more access to funds (which is an advantage), besides the fact that “the legislation that we are approving encourages investment in this sector, because it has some guarantees, such as the regulation that deals with size issues, the rates, how the compensations will be made and the integration of the mini-grids”.
Carlos Xerinda – ARENE’s representative
On the issue of tariffs, Carlos Xerinda clarified that “there is no reason for concern, because ARENE is the entity that approves the prices. Therefore, we will ensure that they are accessible and transparent, nobody will sell energy at any price, energy is regulated. The private sector will not be able to charge a higher price than that stipulated by ARENE,” he concluded.
But it is not only energy that the community of the administrative post of Calanga benefits from, since, according to João de Lima, “in power plants like this one, we have drilled water holes, and since water is plenty, we have supplied it to the population. There are still plans to build a centre for its distribution”.
Improving social services
The administrative post of Calanga had been in the dark for a long time, until the photovoltaic power plant was installed, bringing electricity to the community, which now has improved social services.
“Before the power came here to the Administrative Post of Calangue, we had difficulties in carrying out our duties, especially at night. The delivery service was the most critical, because we had to use torches and candles for that. Today, with electricity, things have changed, we are able to perform deliveries with conditions and we no longer feel intimidated when we make our way to the hospital at night,” said nurse Cátia Mondlane.
The Mozambique Energy Fund (FUNAE) is the public institution responsible for off-grid rural electrification with a special focus on renewable energy.
World Bank data (2015) indicate that with monetary support from Electricity of Mozambique, FUNAE electrified 580 schools, 74 administrative posts and 561 health centres in 260 villages by March 2019.
In May 2021, the United States Agency for Sustainable Development (USAID) approved a fund to electrify 92 health facilities in Sofala province.
There are many initiatives in Mozambique working towards energy access for households, which use off-grid solutions (mini-grids and solar home systems) or to improve the electricity grid.
