Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, announced Tuesday in Zaire Province that several private companies have expressed interest in constructing transmission lines and commercializing Angolan electricity for sale to neighboring countries.
The minister pointed to Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia as the main potential markets for exporting energy from the national power grid within the framework of opening the sector to private operators.
“We are currently making significant progress. We have already signed memoranda of understanding, and we expect to sign the respective concession agreements soon,” said the minister.
Borges added that Angola has also signed bilateral and trilateral agreements with the DRC and Zambia, and that the final legal instruments should be formalized soon.
The official anticipates the imminent completion of the first energy interconnection with Namibia given the pace at which the sector is working, and the interconnection with Zambia is also a priority in order to respond to the challenges associated with the Lobito Corridor project.
Domestically, he reported that 13 of the country’s 21 provinces are already connected to the national electricity system, primarily in the central and southern regions.
Regarding the submarine cable project that will connect Cabinda province to the National Electricity System, starting from Soyo city, the minister explained that the process of defining the seabed relief is currently underway.
According to the minister, a contracted company is carrying out a bathymetric survey. This will enable the exact route of the two submarine cables, each approximately 120 kilometres long, to be defined, as well as the location of the two electrical substations, one in Soyo and the other in Cabinda.
João Baptista Borges specified that the bathymetric survey could take several months, as it is an essential phase on which subsequent project stages depend.
As part of a 48-hour working visit to the province of Zaire, aimed at evaluating the main infrastructures of the sector under his supervision, the minister observed the operation of the Soyo Combined Cycle Power Plant.
