Portuguese group MCA energized an off-grid renewable energy system encompassing 75.26 MWh of battery storage alongside 25.40 MW of solar in Angola.
Billed as the nation’s first and Africa’s largest off-grid renewable energy system, the Cazombo Photovoltaic Park has been designed to rely on solar in the day and its battery bank for night-time supply, ensuring no fossil fuels are consumed.
The project is set to benefit more than 136,000 people living in the Angolan municipality of Cazombo, the capital of the Moxico Leste province in the east of the country.
A statement from MCA says the area has previously faced significant challenges in energy supply, before adding that the solar-plus-storage site represents “the first major source of electricity production and distribution in the region, democratizing access and promoting efficiency and stability.”
The site is the first to be delivered under Angola’s Rural Electrification Project, a government initiative developing solar power plants combined with battery storage to create autonomous minigrids in off-grid locations.
Financing for the Cazombo project came from the British Standard Chartered Bank with support from German export agency Euler Hermes, which granted a guarantee of around €1 billion ($1.16 million) reinsured by Portuguese and Korean export agencies Cosec and K Sure.
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