The first photovoltaic plants in the country, developed by a consortium that integrates the Portuguese group MCA, were inaugurated this Wednesday in Benguela and will produce electricity to supply 1.5 million people, according to the Ministry of Energy and Water.
The plants were inaugurated by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, who arrived this morning in Benguela, for a visit of a few hours.
The photovoltaic parks, located in Biópio and Baía Farta, in the province of Benguela, have an installed capacity of 285 megawatts (MW) and are part of the Government’s objective of providing around 60 percent of the rural population with access to electricity in three years.
With an estimated total installed capacity of 189 megawatts of electrical energy, enough to supply more than one million citizens, the photovoltaic power plant in the commune of Biópio, municipality of Catumbela, is the largest solar energy project in Angola and comprises around 509 thousand solar panels.
The second plant, at Baía Farta, with 96 MW, will inject energy into the national electricity grid to benefit half a million consumers, comprising around 261,000 solar panels, the ministry said in a statement.
The two parks are part of a set of seven, with a total capacity of 370 MW distributed across the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié, Lunda-Norte (in Lucapa), Lunda-Sul (in Saurimo) and Moxico (in Luena), which should be operational by the end of the year.
The seven solar plants were developed by an international consortium comprising MCA, of Portuguese origin, and Sun Africa, of North American origin, and will supply clean, renewable electricity to a total of approximately 2.4 million people.
The solar parks also make it possible to eliminate the need to consume around 1.4 million liters of diesel in generators and thermal production, adds the press release.
