Biopio Solar Power Station

The Biopio Solar Power Station is an operational 189 MW solar power plant in Angola. The power station, which reached commercial commissioning on 20 October 2022, was developed by a consortium comprising (a) M.Couto Alves SA, a construction company based in Portugal (b) M. Couto Alves Vias SA, an energy consulting company based in Angola and (c) Sun Africa LLC, a renewable energy solutions company based in the United States. The power station is owned by the Angolan Ministry of Energy and Water. The power off-taker is Empresa Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT-EP) (English: National Electricity Transmission Network).

Location
The power station is located in Biópio, in the municipality of Catumbela, in Benguela Province. Biopio is located approximately 52.6 km, southeast of downtown Catumbela.

Overview
The power station is a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic panel design. The solar farm occupies 436 ha, on which 509,040 solar panels were installed. The design calls for a generation capacity of 188.8 megawatts. Its output is sold directly to the Empresa Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT), the national electricity transportation utility company, for integration into the national grid, under a long-term power purchase agreement.

The Angolan government is in the process of expanding national electricity generation from 5.01 GW in 2021 to 9.9 GW by 2025, of which 800 MW is sourced from renewable sources.

Developers and ownership
The table below illustrates the corporate entities who developed the solar farm and their countries of domicile.

As of April the power station is reported to belong to the Angolan Ministry of Energy and Water.

Construction and funding
The construction costs of this renewable energy infrastructure is reported as US$426.87 million. The project receivd funding from (1) the Swedish Export Credit Corporation, South Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure), and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.