Power company Gigawatt Mozambique has secured finances to build a 100MW gas-fired power plant at the Ressano Garcia border
According to investment bank Eaglestone, a consortium of Mozambican shareholders – Gigajoule Power, Old Mutual Life Assurance Company and WBHO Construction provided the equity.
The project is expected to commence soon, and the power plant will be onstream in Q4 2015, added Eaglestone.
The plant is estimated to cost over US$200mn and will be built on the Ressano Garcia border – between Mozambique and South Africa. The capacity of the power plant is likely to be doubled, stated officials from Gigawatt Mozambique. The private power company had a take-off agreement with the state-owned utility Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) but hoped to rope in industrial clients, whose higher tariffs would make the project sustainable in the long term.
The project upon completion will provide power to Mozambique, which is rapidly expanding but has limited plant capacity to produce electricity from gas. The country has made significant gas discoveries off its central coast – the Rovuma basin has more than 150 tcf of gas, according to Reuters. Most of Mozambique's electricity is generated from the Cahora Bassa hydro dam, although a large part of the power is exported to South Africa.
