Masdar, the renewable energy company from the United Arab Emirates, is set to undertake a project for constructing a 150 MW solar power park in southern Angola, specifically in the Quipungo Municipality in the Huíla province. The concession agreement with this strategic UAE company was signed today, December 2, on the sidelines of the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change – COP28 – taking place in Expo City Dubai between His Excellency João Baptista Borges, Minister of Energy and Water of Angola, and Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.
The project will create up to 600 direct jobs and provide clean electricity to 90,000 households in the region facing significant electricity supply challenges. The agreement signed at COP28 demonstrates the Angolan Government’s commitment to a just energy transition, economic growth, and carbon emission reduction in Africa and worldwide. This project will significantly support Angola’s goal of increasing its national electrification rate to over 50% by 2027. “This is a contract within the framework of the agreement we previously signed, in which we also signed another for project development, and now we are signing a concession contract for the construction of a 150 MW solar park in southern Angola, specifically in the Quipungo Municipality,” said Minister João Baptista Borges to the press.
According to the Minister of Energy and Water, the project is a private investment and will have solar capacity to not only serve the region where it is located, in this case, the Huíla Province, but also to export capacity to Namibe. “In this southern region of the country, there is significant energy supply scarcity, and we still use thermal energy, so it will also be the replacement of thermal energy with clean energy,” said His Excellency the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges.
Minister Borges clarified that Masdar will supply energy to the public grid and private consumers, and “the supply will be ensured by the public grid and governed by a power purchase agreement to be signed soon between the National Transmission Network (RNT) and the Park Operator. The contract signed today is for a concession of 25 to 30 years, allowing the park to operate during this time, be operated in a way that the investor has rights over the land where the park will be installed.
At the opening of COP28, His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the UAE, President of Masdar, and designated President of COP28, said that Africa has everything it takes to become the global powerhouse of renewable energy.”
OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION, AND PRESS OF THE MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND WATER, in Luanda on December 2, 2023.
