Niassa Energia Solar, a subsidiary of Alten Africa, has signed a PPA with Electricidade de Mozambique for 40 MWp of PV

  • The Niassa Energia Solar project will supply electricity to the national grid for a period of 25 years 
  • The Ministry of Energy granted a concession to Niassa to sell electricity via Ministerial Diploma which was published in the country’s Official Gazette 
  • The signature of the power purchase agreement represents a successful new milestone for Alten and its operations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Madrid – Spain | Maputo – Mozambique, 16 November, 2020. Niassa Energia Solar (“Niassa”), a subsidiary of Alten Africa, has signed a power purchase agreement with Electricidade de Mozambique (“EDM”), the national utility of Mozambique. In terms of the agreement signed on 30 September 2020, the Niassa Energia Solar project will supply electricity to the national grid for a period of 25 years. The agreement was signed during an official event attended by His Excellency Filipe Nyusi, the President of Mozambique, as well as several national and international institutions.

The Ministry of Energy granted a concession to Niassa to sell electricity via Ministerial Diploma (number 55/2020), which was published in the country’s Official Gazette on the 29 September. In the coming weeks, the concession agreement will be signed, which will establish government support for the project.

The signature of the power purchase agreement represents a successful new milestone for Alten and its operations in Sub-Saharan Africa. It comes after several years of work together with Mozambican and Spanish partners and serves to further consolidate Alten’s leadership as a developer and investor in the renewable energy sector in emerging markets.

The Niassa Solar project will see the development of a 40MWp PV plant. The construction works for the plant are expected to begin in 2021, and it will connect to the grid via the Cuamba substation, which is located in the province of Niassa and is owned by EDM. The project is a private public partnership (PPP), where EDM will own a 15% stake in the project and the remaining 85% to be held by Alten and its partners. Alten is no stranger to the PPP format: in Namibia, Alten participates as the majority shareholder in a PPP alongside the national utility NamPower, for what is Namibia’s largest solar PV project.

With the addition of the Niassa Solar project, Alten now has four projects in Sub-Sharan Africa with signed power purchase agreements in Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria and now Mozambique. The total long- term value of these agreements exceeded 1.2 billion USD. Alten plans add more projects to this growing list in the next two years.

 

About Alten Africa

Alten Africa is part of the Alten Energías Renovables group, one of the most active independent power producers (IPP) on the international stage, specialising in the development, financing, construction and operating of photovoltaic solar plants in competitive environments, mainly in Latin America (through its Alten America subsidiary) and sub-Saharan Africa (through Alten Africa).

About Alten Energías Renovables 

Alten Energías Renovables/Alten ER is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) specialising in photovoltaic solar energy, with offices in Spain, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Mexico and Mozambique. It has extensive expertise in the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of PV power plants in challenging environments. The company has a 350 MWp photovoltaic solar plant in operation since 2018 in Mexico in the state of Aguascalientes, and a 300 MWp photovoltaic plant in the state of Puebla, at the financial closing stage. In Europe, the company has been operating a plant in El Casar/Guadalajara (Spain) since 2019 and has a pipeline of 300 MW at different stages of development in Portugal, Italy and Spain.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Alten ER has been operating a 45.5MWp plant in Namibia since 2018 and has started the construction of a 55 MWp plant in Kenya. It is leading a 157 MWp project at an advanced stage of development in Nigeria with a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET). Alten ER has a pipeline of more than 1 GW at various stages of development in Africa, Mexico and those mentioned above in Europe.