AfDB commits $530 million in funding to power transmission in Angola

• The project once operational in 2023 will mitigate the nation’s annual spending on 46.8 billion litres of diesel yearly in the south thereby cutting 80 megatons of CO2 emissions

Wale Ameen

The African Development Bank has announced its commitment of the sum of $530 million to the financing of a 343 km 400 kV transmission line for Angola’s north and south grid.

This transmission grid will see to the distribution of clean energy to the two regions of the country.

With the construction, transmission capacity for the area will increase by 2,250 MW thus eliminating the need for diesel-powered generators in the southern provinces, the bank says.

While the south battles with having constant power and thus relies on diesel generators which are rather expensive, the north of Angola on the other hand has a surplus of 1,000 MW of renewable power.

With the power project being implemented, the government of Angola will save more than $130 million yearly being the cost it expends on subsidising the cost of diesel once the project is completed by 2023.

Approved in December 2019, the finance package is said to consist of $480 million in financing from the bank,$5o million from the Africa Growing Together Fund as well as a $2 billion facility being sponsored by the Peoples Bank of China, administered by the African Development Bank.

This funding which is the first phase of the Energy Sector Efficiency and Expansion Programme (ESEEP) will go a long way in assisting the government to tackle the power challenges within Angola by connecting the country’s transmission grids as well as limitations encountered by the country’s power distribution company, ENDE.

Reports have it that around 80% of Angola’s residential customers are not yet metered and this in turn results in financial losses by the government

With the expansion programe, 860,000 pre-paid meters will be installed and 400,000 new customers will be connected to the grid and effectively metered.

This funding is the third of recent contributions the Bank has made to Angola’s energy sector. It initially approved a $1 billion power sector reform loan in 2015 for the country and this enabled the creation of an independent regulator and unbundling of the sector into three different holding companies namely, distribution, transmission and distribution companies.