According to Jornal de Angola, the Government will disburse a total of 22,527,260.13 dollars (20,883,712 euros) to build the aforementioned photovoltaic project, which has a capacity of 14,625 megawatts and whose first stone was laid by the Minister of Energy and Águas, João Baptista Borges.
Speaking to the press, after the laying of the first stone, the government official stated that the Government is "moving" towards its "great governance objective", through investment in the country's electrification project.
According to the minister, quoted in a statement from the Government of the Province of Bié, to which VerAngola had access, "the country's electricity sector is currently the one that has been growing the most, especially in the production of cheaper and more sustainable energy generated fundamentally from the largest river in the country, the Cuanza".
He also mentioned that, through dams, energy is "being transported" throughout the country.
Currently, he guaranteed that "there is not only an energy capacity in the country to meet current needs as well as future ones", adding that the "great challenges of the sector" involve "extending this public good to all the municipalities that still survive of generator sets".
On the occasion, among other aspects, he mentioned that the towns of Catabola and Camacupa, "will be able, simultaneously, to receive energy from the national grid from the first quarter of 2024, once the transmission line is completed from the Cuito substation ".
"In the northern corridor, there are the towns of Cunhinga, Andulo and Nharêa, according to João Baptista Borges, all of them are integrated into the solar 2 project which aims to extend energy. For this purpose, a line of approximately 30 kilometers will run from Cuito to a substation which will be built in the Municipality of Cunhinga", reads the statement.
The head of the Energy and Water portfolio clarified that "another high voltage line will come from there that will take energy to the villages of Andulo and Nharêa", the project of which is expected to benefit 121 thousand families in Andulo and 7000 in Nharêa.
"For the town of Chinguar, southwest of the province, the construction of a substation within the national grid extension line from Chachiungo in the province of Huambo has also been approved", adds the note.
Among other aspects, the minister highlighted that "the goal of the Angolan executive is to stop thermal power plants".
According to the chairman of the Board of Directors of the public electricity production company (PRODEL), Pedro Afonso, cited by Jornal de Angola, the Cuito photovoltaic plant will benefit, from 2025, around 90 thousand families in Cuito, Cunhinga and Catabola.
Elizabeth Alves, from Making Celebration Amazing (the company in charge of the project), announced that the project will generate more than 150 direct jobs, 70 of which in the first phase.
