Mozambique to increase its renewable energy through US $2.5M grant

Mozambique is set to have its renewable energy increased through a US $2.5M grant approved by the African Development Bank through its Sustainable Energy Africa Fund for Africa (SEFA).

Dr Daniel Schroth, director of the African Development Bank’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department made the announcement and said the grant is set to aid various energy projects in the country.

“The grant from the SEFA will be used to implement the Mozambique Renewable Energy Integration Program (MREP). With the support of the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, Mozambique’s capacity to integrate larger shares of variable renewables will increase its efforts to become a major regional electricity supplier,” said Dr Daniel Schroth.

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Target

“Given that Mozambique is one of the most highly climate-vulnerable countries in the world, the project will help build a more sustainable and resilient power generation infrastructure,” he added.

Amongst the developed planned with the grant include; technical, economic, environmental and social feasibility studies for the development of a solar floating power plant in Chicamba reservoir. The funds will also support a feasibility study for Energy Battery Systems Storage in up to 10 sites, as well as capacity building for EDM´s personnel; and support for tender preparation. Feasibility studies to develop floating photovoltaic solar energy will be conducted in existing EDM hydropower assets.

Large scale renewable projects are becoming a point of interest for investment in Mozambique, specifically solar and hydro. By the end of 2020, there was a total of 582 MW potential capacity derived from independent power producers (IPP). In 2021, 41 MW are in operation and additional 41 MW are under construction. 275 MW projects are in pre-feasibility phase and tenders amounting to 160 MW was launched by the PROLER program (which assists Mozambique’s national utility, EDM, with calls for tenders). The remaining 65 MW correspond to power purchase agreements already signed.  Mozambique’s main body to promote renewable energy access, FUNAE, expects a total on-grid installed capacity for solar and wind energy of 306 MW in 2031.

The Government of Mozambique also has an ambitious target to add additional 600 MW of power by 2024 and out of which 200 MW will come from renewables (solar, wind and hydro plants) and 400 MW from gas-fired power stations.