Angola Targets Wider Electricity Access Through Grid Expansion and Regional Interconnections
About half of Angola’s population remained without access to electricity, highlighting the scale of the country’s electrification challenge despite growing power-generation capacity.
Energy and Water Minister João Baptista Borges said the government was prioritising nationwide electrification, with public investment directed towards extending electricity access to underserved communities.
Borges said Angola also needed to make greater use of its available generation capacity. The country currently has surplus electricity production, which the government sees as an opportunity to support other sectors of the economy and develop regional power exports.
He said planned interconnections with Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo could eventually allow electricity to flow in both directions, enabling countries to export power when they have a surplus and import when domestic supply is insufficient.
The minister said these interconnections would contribute to the development of a regional electricity market linking the power systems of Central and Southern Africa.
Angola’s challenge is increasingly centred on transmission and distribution rather than generation alone.
An African Development Bank assessment released in September 2026 found that electricity access had risen from 41.8% of the population in 2016 to 51.1% in 2023, while electricity generation nearly doubled over the same period.
The government has therefore continued to prioritise grid expansion, rural electrification and the integration of previously separate power systems as it works to extend reliable electricity access across the country.
The planned regional connections are also expected to strengthen Angola’s participation in the Southern African electricity market while creating additional opportunities to optimise the country’s growing generation capacity.
