Mocuba Solar Power Station

Mocuba Solar Power Station, is an operational 40 megawatt solar power plant in Mozambique. The public–private partnership project, sells the energy produced to the national electric utility, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

Location
The power station sits on 200 ha of land with the solar panels occupying 170 ha. The development is located in the municipality of Mocuba, in Zambezia Province, in the central coastal region of Mozambique. This is approximately 150 km, north of the city of Quelimane, where the provincial headquarters are located. Mocuba is located about 1975 km, by road, northeast of Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique. The geographical coordinates of Mocuba Solar Power Station are: 16°49'22.0"S, 37°02'05.0"E (Latitude:-16.822778; Longitude:37.034722).

Overview
The power station was developed by a consortium, the Mocuba Solar Energy Consortium, comprising (a) Scatec Solar, a Norwegian independent solar power producer (b) the Mozambican electricity utility company Electricidade de Moçambique and (c) KLP Norfund Investments, a subsidiary of Norfund. The power station produces 40 megawatts of electricity, which EDM will purchase for 25 years from the date of commissioning, according to an agreement signed between the owners of the power station and the Government of Mozambique.

Ownership
Mocuba Solar Power Station is owned by the entity that developed it, Mocuba Solar Energy Consortium. The table below illustrates the shareholding within the consortium:

Timeline
Construction began in June 2018 and was completed in July 2019. Commercial commissioning was effected in August 2019.

Funding
The funds used to construct this power station, whose cost price is reported as US$76 million, were borrowed from (a) the World Bank Group and (b) the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund.

Other considerations
During the construction phase, this project created 1,209 jobs, with 1,052 of them being local. The solar power plant is expected to save the country approximately 79,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.