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Slowly but surely, Angola's power stations are being rehabilitated, providing electricity to areas which have been without reliable supplies during the years of civil war. More than a billion dollars will be needed for reconstruction and expansion works to meet rising demand.
Nevertheless, despite the enormous task of restoring the infrastructure destroyed during the war, Angola could one day become a net electricity exporter within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The country has already signed an agreement with its southern neighbour, Namibia, to promote cross-border electricity supplies, and on other issues of common interest.
Work on the largest-ever civil construction project in the country, a dam and 520MW hydroelectric plant on the Cuanza River at Capanda, 300km from the capital, Luanda, has resumed. Brazilian industrial giant Odebrecht is building the multi-million dollar Capanda project with Russian technical assistance .
Energy and water minister Luis Filipe da Silva says: “Capanda should have been completed in 1994, but because of the war the work stopped. But they did not destroy the building itself as it was already at an advanced phase.”
A further seven hydroelectric dams may be built between Capanda and Cambambe (where there is a 180MW power plant) to produce a total of 5,000MW of power. “We want to transfer this potential to other regions and to countries in the SADC,” adds Mr da Silva.
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More than a billion dollars will be needed to rebuild and expand the country's damaged electricity network |
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The state-owned Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE) is responsible for the generation and supply of electricity.
Chairman Eduardo Gomes Nelumba is optimistic about the future, but says it will take at least five years to fully rehabilitate the sector, and he emphasises the need for outside help.
“Our government has invested, but not enough to solve our problems. We need enough money to assure the areas of production, transmission, distribution and maintenance of equipment,” he says. “ENE will need national or foreign partners to perform some projects, and it will need the help of the international financial institutions. Only with international support will we be able to do it.”
Most of ENE's operations are in the coastal provinces, where there are more people. “Luanda is the single biggest consumer and demand is growing daily,” he says. “The cities of Benguela, Lobito and Catumbela are also priorities because of the industries there, including the new refinery.”
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