Mozambique will have a combined cycle

The first stone of the project to build a combined cycle natural gas power station, capable of producing 106 megawatts of electricity, was laid on Thursday in Maputo, in a ceremony that was attended by the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Mozambican news agency AIM reported.

The president of state power company EDM, Mateus Magala, said at the time that the plant, which will cost US$180 million, is the first major public investment in power generation infrastructure through the company.

To build this power plant, the government of Mozambique was granted a loan of US$167 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at an interest rate of 0.01% per year, with a payment period of 40 years including a grace period of 10 years.

EDM’s contribution to the project, which is expected to start in December and take two and a half years, is US$13 million.

The new power station will be the first thermoelectric combined cycle power plant in Mozambique, ensuring a more efficient use of the energy resource available in the country, natural gas, “adding more value and contributing to the reduction of emissions, environmental conservation and the country’s sustainable economic development,” Magala said.

The power plant project, along with a project to recover the Mavuzi and Chicamba hydroelectric plants, in the central province of Manica, will help to diversify energy sources and increase EDM’s production capacity from 206 megawatts to around 315 megawatts from mid-2018. (macauhub)