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Mozambique Must Generate 100 MW Extra Power A Year: Official
Electricity pylons carry power from Cape Town's Koeberg nuclear power plant July 17, 2009. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
26/11/2013
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique must generate an extra 100 megawatts of electricity a year to meet the power demands of its fast-growing economy, a senior energy official said on Tuesday.
Pascoal Bacela, national director of electricity at the ministry of energy, said demand at peak times, which stands at about 800 megawatts, was outstripping available capacity.
"The capacity available does not reach the 800 megawatts at all, we are at the level of 700 megawatts roughly. We have been managing that through imports from other utilities," he said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Maputo.
"In order to counter the energy deficit, Mozambique needs to generate energy at a pace of 80-100 megawatts per year."
The government and private companies in Mozambique are investing in new electricity generation capacity, with projects ranging from hydro, coal and gas-fired powers plants.
Power from some of these projects was expected to come online next year, Bacela said.
Mozambique is expected to see economic growth of around 8 percent in 2014 and 2015, a Reuters poll showed this month, after an estimated 7.1 percent expansion this year.
The country is seen as an African success story and is blessed with big coal and natural gas reserves, which have attracted foreign investors and raised power demand.
Major foreign companies investing in the former Portuguese colony include Brazil's Vale, Rio Tinto, U.S. oil company Anadarko and Italian oil and gas group Eni.
However, some investors have been unnerved by an increase in kidnappings and political violence.
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