The first of 46 solar minigrids planned in Angola has been inaugurated by João Baptista Borges, the African country’s Minister of Energy and Water.
Borges attended a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event at the project site in Angola’s Moxico Leste province last week, alongside the province’s governor, Crispiniano dos Santos and Angolan Secretary of State for Energy Arlindo Carlos.
The project, Cazombo Photovoltaic Park, features a 25.4MWp solar PV array and 75.26MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). It was described by the Ministry of Energy and Water (MINEA) as a “fundamental piece of infrastructure” that provides “clean, cheap and environmentally friendly energy”.
It is part of the ‘Solar Park for Rural Electrification in Angola,’ a private sector initiative led by MCA Deutschland, a Germany-headquartered company, to deploy a network of hybrid solar PV generation systems paired with lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery storage, as well as associated distribution infrastructure.
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Launched in 2023 by MCA and overseen by a local subsidiary formed with Portugal’s M. Couto Alves Vias Grupo (Grupo MCA), 46 minigrids will be built to benefit 60 communities, in six Angolan provinces, to operate as autonomous rural minigrids without relying on diesel backup or other polluting and expensive thermal generation.
Angola’s Ministry of Finance selected investment bank Standard Chartered to structure €1.29 billion (US$1.5 billion) in Export Credit Agency (ECA)-supported financing.
It was supported by a €1.2 billion facility from the German export agency Euler Hermes, reinsured by Portuguese and Korean export agencies Cosec and K Sure, respectively, along with financing through a commercial loan for around €90 million.
Moxico Leste is a new province, formed in September 2024 as the eastern part of Moxico was split off from the west. MCA said the province, home to around 400,000 people, faces energy supply challenges and the PV-plus-BESS plant is its first major electricity generation source. Cazombo PV Park is named after the newly formed province’s capital city, Cazombo.
The 46 solar minigrids in total represent 256MWp of solar PV generation, and the programme is scheduled for completion in 2026, providing electricity for around a million people in Bié, Malanje, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico and East Moxico.
According to the African solar trade association AFSIA, Angola deployed the fifth-most solar on the continent in 2024, with 53.8MW of deployments through the year. That was a long drop-off from the two leading countries, South Africa (1.2GW) and Egypt (707MW).
