The Caraculo Solar Power Station is a planned solar power plant in Angola. The power station is owned and operated by a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

comprising

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...

, the Italian energy multinational, in collaboration with

Sonangol Group Sonangol ( pt, Grupo Sonangol) is a parastatal that formerly oversaw petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. The group consisted of Sonangol E.P. ( pt, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. ...

, the Angolan energy parastatal. On 31 May 2023, 25 MW of power came online, in the first phase with another 25 megawatts to follow.

Location

The power station is located near the small town of Caraculo, in Namibe Province, in southwestern Angola. Caraculo is located approximately , by road, northeast of Namibe, the provincial capital. This is approximately , by road, south of Luanda, the national capital.

Overview

The power station, which will be constructed in phases, is designed to have generation capacity of 50 megawatts, when fully constituted. The first phase with generation output of 25 megawatts, was built first, then followed by the second stage of equal capacity. Its output is intended to be 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, which was yet to be signed, as of December 2021. In December 2021, a final investment decision (FID), was signed between Eni and Sonangol specifying 50/50 ownership in the project. The two shareholders formed a special purpose vehicle company, named Solenova Limited, which will own, design, finance, build, operate and maintain the solar farm. The undisclosed

engineering, procurement and construction Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects. Overview Under an EPC co ...

(EPC) contractor has been selected. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2022.

Developers

The table below illustrates the corporate entities who own a stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) company Solenova Limited:

Benefits

The energy generated by this power station is expected to reduce the country's electricity deficit and to increase the proportion of the Angolan population who are connected to grid electricity. This renewable energy project is in line with the country's desire to attain 800 megawatts of "installed renewable capacity by 2025".

References

External links

Overview of Electricity Energy Sector In Angola
As of December 2018.
First Angolan Solar Power Station goes into operation in Namibe
As of 31 May 2023. {{Authority control Solar power stations in Angola Namibe Province 2023 establishments in Angola Buildings and structures in Angola Renewable energy power stations in Angola