Cuango — The Construction of the photovoltaic park in the municipality of Cuango, province of Lunda-Norte, scheduled to start operation in July of the current year, is progressing rapidly, with physical completion at around 70%, ANGOP learned.
During the visit of the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, to the energy project, ANGOP leaned that the assembly of the buildings that will house the monitoring rooms, energy and water technical networks is currently underway.
The project will electrify 9,500 homes, benefiting 40,000 citizens, and includes the installation of storage batteries that will guarantee the supply of energy during the night.
It is designed to generate 11.5 megawatts of electricity, plus 23 MW stored in batteries for nighttime production.
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With the solar park becoming operational, the municipality will stop consuming more than 6 million liters of diesel per year, which will allow for an estimated annual saving of 2.5 billion kwanzas (USD 1 = 912Kz).
On that occasion, Minister João Baptista Borges appealed to the contractor to deliver the work within the established deadline, highlighting the strategic importance of the project in the stability of the energy supply to the population and in the improvement of public services.
The minister has been fulfilling a 24-hour work agenda in that province since Thursday (29), with the goal of verifying the degree of physical execution of the photovoltaic plants in the municipalities of Cuango and Cafunfo.
The day after, João Borges will travel to the municipality of Cafunfo, where he will learn about the works of the solar park with an installed capacity of 42 megawatts, associated with a medium-voltage power transmission line, approximately 50 kilometers long, integrated into the local electricity grid.
In the first phase, approximately 30,000 household connections are planned, benefiting more than 100,000 citizens.
The two projects are part of the Rural Electrification Program, coordinated by the relevant ministry, which aims to expand electricity from clean sources, benefiting 60 rural communities in the country.
For the province of Lunda-Norte, 15 projects were approved, in the municipalities of Cafunfo (underway), Cambulo (underway), Cuango (underway), Xá-Muteba, Luremo, Caungula, Capenda-Camulemba, Lubalo, Cuilo, Camissombo, Lóvua, Camaxilo, Xinge, Canzar and Capaia (all on hold).
Currently, the province of Lunda-Norte has 76.19 megawatts of electricity available, with 27 from the Luachimo hydroelectric dam, 42 from the Dundo thermal power plants and 7.19 from the Lucapa photovoltaic plant.