Mocuba solar power station to begin operating this month

Mocuba solar power station to begin operating this month

Mozambique’s first solar power plant, located in the district of Mocuba, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, is due to begin operation by the end of March according to a report in the daily newspaper “Noticias”.

The forty-megawatt solar power plant covers an area of 170 hectares and has cost 76 million US dollars to construct. The facility will be operated by the company CESOM (Central Solar de Mocuba), which is a public-private partnership owned by Norwegian energy company Scatec Solar (with 52.5 per cent of the shares), Mozambique’s publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, (25 per cent), and the Norwegian Investment Fund, Norfund, (22.5 per cent). CESOM has a 25-year agreement to sell the power to EDM.

The project was funded through equity of 14 million dollars, a grant of 7 million dollars, and project debt of 55 million dollars. The project debt consists of 19 million dollars from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a concessional loan of 19 million dollars from the Climate Investment Fund, and a syndicated loan of 17 million dollars from the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF).

A source in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy commented “with the facility coming into operation the centre/north transmission line from Tete will be supplied by an alternative source of electricity. This will create 300 jobs in the construction phase”. The source added that the new electricity supply is of particular importance for Zambezia province as the region has a deficit of electricity for feeding industry and future projects such as the new port at Macuse and the 300 houses to be constructed in the city of Quelimane by the government’s Housing Promotion Fund (FFH).