Mozambique's President Inaugurates 19MW Solar Plant
It is the country's first IPP with utility-scale energy storage.
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi has inaugurated the 19MW Cuamba solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Niassa province in the northwest of the country.
It is Mozambique's first independent power project (IPP) to integrate a utility-scale battery energy storage system. The capacity of the storage system is 2MW or 7MWh.
The solar plant was developed by London-headquartered Globeleq in partnership with African renewable energy platform Source Energia.
The electricity will be sold to state utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) through a 25-year power purchase agreement.
His Excellency President Filipe Nyusi inaugurated the Cuamba power plant in Mozambique today. This is our first greenfield-to-operations plant in Mozambique and our first combined solar PV and storage plant anywhere. @UKinMozambique @NorwayInMoz @BritishIntInv @norfund 1/2 pic.twitter.com/oQQ8lRaNwe
— Globeleq (@Globeleq) September 14, 2023
The US$32 million project will provide power to nearly 22,000 Mozambicans and included an upgrade of the existing Cuamba substation. Construction began in June 2021. Spain’s Grupo TSK designed, supplied and commissioned the plant.
The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) provided a USD$19 million loan to help bring the project online, while the London-based Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), which runs the EAIF, provided US$7 million in viability gap funding to support an affordable tariff fund, essential grid upgrades and the energy storage system. British International Investment’s BII Plus technical assistance and support facility also played a role.
Globeleq says the Cuamba plant was its first greenfield-to-operations project in Mozambique and its first solar PV and storage facility worldwide.
The company is also working on Mozambique’s 450MW Temane gas-to-power plant, which received a US$50 million loan from the Opec Fund for International Development and is expected to start generating power in 2024. Construction began in January 2022.
Globeleq is also developing a 120MW wind farm at Namaacha near Maputo, the country’s capital, along with Source Energia.
The projects will contribute to the government’s Energy for All strategy, which aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.
Photo: Cuamba solar PV plant (Source: Twitter/X @Globeleq)
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