The European Union’s Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund is to invest four million Euros in an initiative aimed at boosting renewable energy in Mozambique. The Project for Promotion of Auctions for Renewable Energies (PROLER) initiative will be implemented by the French Development Agency (AFD), in partnership with Mozambique’s public electricity utility company, EDM.

The financial closing date for the construction of the country’s first solar power plant to be installed in the district of Mocuba, Zambézia province, is scheduled for this month.

Negotiations for the release of funds and the start-up of the project are in the last phase, Mateus Magala, chairman of the Board of Directors of Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) said in Maputo yesterday.

The 40-megawatt solar power plant is expected to start commercial operations in August 2018, contributing to the quality of the power supply in the district and elsewhere in Zambezia province.

Speaking at the PROLER launch ceremony, Mocuba said that negotiations for the construction of the Metoro solar plant in Cabo Delgado, another 40-megawatt facility, were also at an “advanced stage of development”.

According to Mateus Magala, PROLER would end the direct awarding of concessions for photovoltaic electrification by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, replacing it with a public tender process supervised by EDM.

With the support of the European Union and the French Development Agency, EDM will identify an area to be electrified on the basis of new renewable energies, commission studies and hire contractors, through the best technical-financial proposal.

French Development Agency regional director Marta Stein-Sochas and French and EU ambassadors Bruno Clerc and Sven Von Burgsdorff, also reaffirmed their support for clean electricity in the country.

“The government’s policy and strategy for the energy sector set as main goals increasing access, and improving the quality and security of supply. The achievement of these goals requires, among other factors, an energy matrix based on diversification of generation and geographical location,” the minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said.

Von Burgsdorff remarked that Mozambique was seeing an increasing demand for energy in tandem with its economic development, and stressed the importance of transforming the energy sector in the context of the global challenges posed by climate change.

“Energy is vital all over the world, not only for economic growth but, above all, for sustainable and inclusive development. In Mozambique, the challenges are immense. Suffice it to say that two-thirds of the population does not have access to reliable electricity supply, and that most still depend on biomass for cooking,” he said.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Letícia Klemens, said that PROLER was in line with the government’s efforts to diversify the national energy matrix, bring generation points closer to consumption centres, and rationalise investment in production and power lines.

Source: Club of Mozambique