According to a statement from the Cubal municipal administration, to which VerAngola had access, the infrastructure is budgeted at 250 thousand dollars and is supported by around fifty solar panels.
"The inauguration of the project valued at 250 thousand dollars, supported by 51 solar panels, whose system as a whole, of the latest generation, was the responsibility of the president of the Executive Board of Sonagás, Manuel Barros, who was accompanied by senior officials from his department and of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Manuel Xavier Júnior, a fact witnessed by the municipal administrator of Cubal, Paulino M'Binguela Banja", reads the statement.
On the occasion, Manuel Barros highlighted the importance of starting up this system, which was "the first in the country to be installed in one of the gas filling units", and also stated that "the purpose of this project is to reduce operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions", the note also states.
Thus, Manuel Barros pointed out, cited by Angop, that the start of this system's activity will allow to consume 18 thousand less liters of diesel annually, as well as saving more than 150 thousand dollars by obtaining generators.
The operation of the installation, according to the person responsible, will be based on renewable energy, and until now the filling infrastructure was solely dependent on generators, which are currently stopped.
Regarding energy production, the person responsible clarified that during the day the system will generate enough energy to respond to the installation's demand, while at night, the energy will be ensured by the battery storage system, writes Angop.
He also spoke about Sonangol's intentions, saying that the company wants, by 2027, to see projects implemented to reach an energy production capacity of 427 megawatts.
The municipal administrator of Cubal considered that the "act constitutes a unique milestone for this locality", as the project is aligned with "development challenges linked to clean energy, being an action that contributes" to the conservation of the environment.
"This is the way forward for the good of the environment," he said, quoted in the municipal administration's statement.
It should be noted that the Cubal mini installation has a production capacity of more than 3500 bottles of gas per day, with the "remaining being transferred to the provinces of Bié, Huambo and surrounding areas".
It should also be noted that, this Wednesday, staff from the National Oil and Gas Agency were in Cubal to identify possible biofuel producers. "The National Oil and Gas Agency moved some of its directors and staff to the municipality of Cubal to assess the possibility of producing crops such as corn, castor and sugarcane for biofuel production. This agency is currently working on do a survey and see in which locations it is also possible to produce fuel from agricultural crops (...)", pointed out Cubal's deputy municipal administrator for the technical sector, infrastructure and community services, António Andrade, quoted by Rádio National of Angola.
