The Mozambican government yesterday approved the terms and conditions of the concession contract for the Nacala Thermal Power Plant, with a maximum capacity of 250 megawatts (MW), for the production and sale of electricity, the Council of Ministers announced in a statement.
The central should feed the public network and “contribute to the export of energy”, refers the document, without detailing the terms.
The concession includes the entire process, from the design, operation and management of the plant, in addition to the energy transport and interconnection infrastructure.
The plant, an investment by GL Africa Energy, is part of a package of projects presented since 2017 to take advantage of the domestic share of natural gas in the Rovuma basin.
The gas is expected to start being explored and channeled to land from undersea deposits off Cabo Delgado in the coming years, but the first phase of GL’s Nacala plant is expected to start operating even before this milestone.
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“The plant will be built in phases: in the first phase a 50 MW plant will be built, the second phase will add another 65MW and in the third phase another 135 MW, reaching a total of 250 MW”, reads the Environmental Impact Assessment available on the Internet.
“Phases two and three will only be built after the availability of gas from the Rovuma basin. For the total installed capacity, the production equipment will comprise 27 gas engine generators”, and the plant will be fed by a pipeline provided for in the Mozambique Natural Gas Master Plan.
The overall investment value of the project, “for the maximum capacity of the plant (250 MW), is estimated at 400 million dollars” and “the investment value for the first phase (50 MW) is estimated. if in 90 million dollars”, he adds.
Construction of the first phase of the project is expected to take 16 months from the start date, to be announced.
Mozambique currently has to import other fuels to power a floating thermal power plant owned by a private company, anchored off Nacala, to ensure reliable power in the system in the northern region, as well as supplying power to the Republic of Zambia.
