AGREEMENT SIGNED ON ZAMBEZIA SOLAR POWER

The company Scatec Solar and the Norwegian Development Fund (Norfund) signed on Monday in Maputo a contract guaranteeing the sale of solar power to the publicly owned Mozambican electricity company, EDM, for a 25-year period.The contract was signed at a ceremony attended by the visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende and by the Mozambican Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Klemens.

The project will be the first large-scale solar energy production plant in Mozambique, and will be located in the city of Mocuba in the central province of Zambézia. With an installed capacity of 40 megawatts it is expected to supply 77,000 megawatt-hours per year to about 175,000 homes.

A shareholders agreement was also signed between KLP Norfund Investments AS (22.5 percent), Scatec Solar (52.5 percent) and Electricidade de Moçambique (25 percent), involving an estimated cost of USD 84 million.The project will be financed with USD 64 million (76 per cent) from the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank group. The remainder will be guaranteed by the shareholders; EDM’s part will be borne by the Norwegian government through a grant.

Scatec Solar also reported that the financial part of the project is nearly concluded. Construction of the solar power installation should begin in the first quarter of 2017 and be finished in December.

Also on Monday, the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA), and its Norwegian counterpart, the Norwegian African Business Association (NABA) signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a basis for business cooperation.Under the agreement, signed by CTA chairperson Rogerio Manuel and the deputy director of NABA, Daniella Woldemichael, the two organisations will regularly exchange experiences in various sectors of business interest. Manuel claimed that Norway has some similarities with Mozambique in that it is a major producer of natural gas and an exporter of fisheries produce of worldwide recognized merit.CTA staff, Manuel said, will visit Norway to learn from the Norwegian experience, and Norwegian business people will come to Mozambique to see how the CTA operates. Through these contacts the private sector in Oslo could advise the CTA in how to improve public-private dialogue.In his visit to Mozambique, Brende brought 30 Norwegian business people on his delegation.