"ADB set aside US $ 530 million to finance the construction of a 400 Kv transmission line, over 343 kilometers, which will connect the north and south transmission networks and allow the distribution of clean energy between the two regions", reads in a statement sent to Lusa, which points to savings of over 130 million dollars in diesel subsidies.
In the document, this multilateral financial institution explains that "the north of Angola has a surplus of more than a thousand megawatts mainly of renewable energy, while the south is dependent on very expensive diesel generators, supported by government subsidies".
This project, the statement added, "will increase transmission capacity by 2250 megawatts and eliminate the need for polluting and diesel powered generators in the southern provinces" and, when operational from 2023, "will avoid consumption of 26.8 billion liters of diesel per year in the south, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80 megatons and allowing the government to save more than $ 130 million per year in diesel subsidies ".
The financial package for this project, approved in December 2019 by the AfDB board of directors, consists of $ 480 million of bank financing, along with $ 50 million of the 'Africa Growing Together' fund, a $ 2,000 financial instrument. million dollars sponsored by the People's Bank of China and administered by the organization, the statement said.
This initiative will also allow 400 thousand new customers to be connected to the electricity distribution network, being effectively measured through the installation of 860 thousand prepaid stations, and will be the backbone of the energy distribution to the provinces of southern Angola and the Namibia.
"Angola has significantly improved the capacity, operational efficiency and sustainability of the electricity sector; in the period between 2015 and 2019, the total installed capacity of renewable energy increased from 1017 megawatts to 2763 megawatts, mainly through the improvement of the exploitation of the abundant hydropower in the country" , concludes in the statement.
