Angola

The Angolan Ministry of Finance has secured €1.29 billion ($1.44 billion) from Standard Chartered to finance the construction of 48 hybrid PV systems across the provinces of Moxico, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Bie, and Malanje. The new solar infrastructure will provide sustainable electricity to 1 million people.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has awarded a loan to Angola’s Ministry of Energy and Water to deploy two large-scale solar power plants.

Solar installations across Africa hit 949 MW in 2022, bringing cumulative capacity past the 10 GW mark, according to the African Solar Industry Association (AFSIA). While that may seem underwhelming for such a huge region, it shows that countries are taking big steps toward realizing the entire continent’s PV potential.

Elsewhere, the Fraunhofer ISE research institute has unveiled a new tool for high-resolution power-to-X kinetic analysis, and German entities have signed partnership agreements with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

The raised ambition of an already huge renewables-powered hydrogen project in the Southern African nations vividly demonstrates the hydrogen and clean energy potential of a continent which accounted for just 0.5% of the world’s new solar capacity last year, according to trade body AFSIA’s annual report.

Attendees at an online event dedicated to rooftop solar in Central Africa called for customer incentives, tax exemptions for solar kit, feed-in tariffs, installation standards, affordable finance, grid connections and recycling policies across the region.

Trade bodies the Africa Solar Industry Association and the African Hydrogen Partnership hosted a two-day virtual conference to discuss the role green hydrogen can play in economic growth across the continent–and how it could drive desalination in freshwater-starved coastal countries.

The French company will work with Angolan developer Greentech. According to Total, the solar project is in line with Angola’s plan to encourage foreign investment and promote renewable energy sources, with the goal of reaching an installed capacity of 800 MW in the country by 2025.

A €62m Italo-French program will reduce risk for project developers and a €20m Spanish scheme will fund off-grid installations in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Italian oil and gas provider has signed a concession agreement with the government of the African oil country to build a 50 MW solar plant. The project is expected to be in the province of Namibe and will be part of the nation’s plan to deploy 600 MW of solar by 2022.