An official inauguration ceremony was held on 2 April to mark the completion of the 26.1MW Saurimo photovoltaic (PV) solar plant in the Lunda Sul province of northeast Angola

The €38.8 million (US$41.6 million) facility comprises 44,850 solar panels and is set to benefit more than 170,000 people. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the facility was led by Portugal’s MCA Group.

The Saurimo plant is part of a set of seven solar facilities with a combined capacity of 370MW that are being constructed in three phases across Angola.

The first phase includes the 189MW Biopio and 96MW Baia Farta plants located in the Benguela province, which were inaugurated in July 2022 and supply about 1.8 million people with electricity.

The second phase comprises the Saurimo facility as well as the 27.1MW Luena plant in the Moxico province and the 7.4MW Lucapa solar farm in Lunda Norte, both of which are under construction.

The final phase covers the 14.8MW Cuito plant in the Bie province and the 7.9MW Bailundo facility in the Huambo province, the groundbreaking ceremonies for which were held in December 2023.

MCA Group and US-based Sun Africa are building the seven plants under a €523 million (US$561 million) development and EPC (D&EPC) contract signed in August 2019. 

The scheme is being financed by a credit facility from Swedish export credit agency EKN, re-insured by EKN and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure), and a commercial loan from the Development Bank of South Africa.

The Angolan government is aiming to provide 50% of the population with access to electricity by 2027.

The Angola Energy 2025 plan targets renewable energy to constitute more than 70% of the country’s installed capacity and includes 800MW of clean energy projects such as biomass, solar, wind and mini-hydro plants.

In December 2023, the UAE’s Masdar signed a concession agreement with Angola’s energy ministry to develop a 150MW PV solar project in the Quipungo region in southern Angola. 

The ground-mounted solar farm in Hulia province will deliver renewable energy to 90,000 homes. Up to 600 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase.

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