Mozambique has launched the 40MW Mocuba solar power plant in the province of Zambézia, in eastern part of the country. President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi performed the inauguration ceremony.
The solar plant project built by a consortium of Scatec Solar and partners, covers an area of 200 hectares, 170 hectares of which are occupied by the solar panels of the plant. It’s presently dominated by hydropower with dams on the Zambezi River, as well as the Cahora Bassa dam (2,075 MW).
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Mocuba power plant
According to Raymond Carlsen, Managing Director of Scatec Solar, the plant which will be connected to the national grid, will increase renewable energy share. “We are proud to have completed the Mocuba solar plant together with our partners. As the first large scale solar plant in Mozambique, the plant will be an important contributor to increase the share of renewable power in the country by providing clean energy to around 175,000 households,” said Raymond Carlsen.
The independent power producer (IPP) Scatec Solar is part of the consortium that owns the Mocuba solar photovoltaic plant. The other shareholders of the project are; the state-owned company Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM) and KLP Norfund Investments, a financial institution owned by the Oslo-based insurance company.
The Mocuba solar project was also supported by the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), a multi-donor organization with members from seven European countries and the World Bank Group.
The electricity produced will be sold EDM under the 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed in 2016 during a statement that the clean energy made by the Mocuba plant can contribute to avoiding regarding seventy-5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
