BUSINESS CLASS – The path to universal energy access by 2030

Mozambique is immersed in a volatile and uncertain context, conditioned by macroeconomic indicators and climate change, which cyclically jeopardize all efforts and investments. But electricity is reaching more and more Mozambicans. The goal is to make the country fully illuminated by 2030.

Ten years ago, Mozambique committed itself, through the public company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), to making all the districts fully electrified. It was anticipated that this would be no easy task.

Even so, the project went ahead, but other problems arose. Clandestine connections throughout the country meant that clear principles and mechanisms (ethics and transparency) had to be established to monitor the implementation of electricity expansion projects, with a view to achieving universal access to energy by 2030. And several electricity expansion projects have already been implemented.

According to the National Electrification Strategy (ENE), approved by Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) in 2018, more than 4,852,000 customers should be provided with electricity by 2030, an average of around 373,000 new consumers a year. If this commitment is realized, the target could cost EDM around 5.7 billion dollars.

Electrical expansion with ethics

Data provided by the state-owned electricity supply company indicates that last year alone, 395,732 new consumers benefited from energy for the first time in their lives, as part of the implementation of the National Electricity Network Expansion Project (REN). This figure meant that the number of EDM customers rose from 2.9 million in 2022 to 3.2 million in 2023, representing growth of 9%.

In this regard, EDM’s Director of Electrification and Projects, Cláudio Dambe, said that the figure totals more than 1,324,000 new connections made since 2020 in the country, translating into an improvement in the quality of energy supply and more access to energy for Mozambican families.

According to the EDM manager, these results have been achieved thanks to the implementation of ethical principles and transparency in all projects. “At EDM, we have a code of ethics to which all our employees are signatories, so the contractors and consultants involved are also required to be guided by the same code of ethics”.

For Dambe, the implementation of ethics and transparency in electricity expansion projects presupposes greater confidence on the part of the general public and the implementation of projects within the planned period. For this reason, he recalled that failure to comply with these mechanisms has led to several shutdowns and manifestations in the past.

“The implementation of electricity expansion projects has followed a transparent process, from the selection of service providers to execution. The field survey is based on pre-established technical and financial assumptions and is carried out by the Customer Services Areas or Regions, with the involvement of the System Planning and Engineering Department, which in turn passes this data on to the Electrification and Projects Department (Project Implementation Unit),” he said.

However, the need to have the electricity grid available as quickly as possible, even if the area is covered by the project or not, has posed challenges for these two guiding pillars of EDM’s projects, and the company assumes that there are connections that do not comply with ethical and transparency criteria.

“It happens that, since this is a dynamic and phased process, some people lure the technicians of the contracted companies into carrying out clandestine networks. But the control of these evils is at the level of the competent areas which, when they become aware of it, apply the appropriate sanctions which can culminate in the expulsion of the technician involved and the removal of the clandestine network, because it can compromise the quality of the energy supply,” said the director of Electrification and Projects.

The implementation of ethical and transparent mechanisms has enabled a total of nine projects to be carried out over the last four years, with a total investment of 832.3 million dollars.

“The process of electrifying the country has followed a structured process, starting with the electrification of all the provincial capitals (completed in 2005). This was followed by the electrification of the District Headquarters, completed in 2018. In 2019, the study was completed which indicated that 135 PAs out of the 416 in the country were not electrified,” said Dambe.

The turn of administrative posts

A new phase has now begun. The mission is to leave no one without access to electricity. For now, the focus has turned to the headquarters of the administrative posts.

“The project to electrify the country’s administrative posts is currently underway, and the electrification of 67 of the 135 identified through studies carried out in 2020 has been completed,” emphasized the head of the Electrification and Projects area at EDM.

After this project, the third phase of the Energy for All Program will follow. For this one in particular, EDM has guaranteed that it is carrying out the survey for its implementation as early as 2025.

“The tenders will be launched in 2025, during the first semester. This will guarantee the continuity of the services of the new connections and, of course, universal access in 2030,” he said.

The source emphasized that, in order for this process to succeed, everything has to be done to ensure better communication with the community. “You have to know how to wait your turn and not get involved in manifestations or sabotage or theft of electrical equipment.”

With these projects, EDM says it has no doubt that, by 2030, the whole Mozambique will be lit by the electricity grid, which could lead to development in the communities.

1-    Vilanculos Rural Electrification – MUSD 59.00

2-    Power Quality Improvement (PERIP) – MUSD 150.00

3-    Reconstruction of the 66kV Lamego Guara-guara line – MUSD 10.50

4-   Modernization of the Beluluane Industrial Park Electricity Network – MUSD 22.4

5-    Energy for All Project Phase I (ProEnergia) – MUSD 152.00

6-    Electrification of Administrative Posts in package I and part of package II – MUSD 49.90

7-    Namialo Substation Construction Project – MUSD 44.5

8-    Chimuara – Nacala phase I project – MUSD 200.00

9-    Rehabilitation of the Mavuzi and Chicamba Power Plants – MUSD 144

Edição 85 NOV/DEZ| Download.