The government of Angola is stepping up efforts to ensure 60% electrification by 2025. The Energy Sector Efficiency and Expansion Program (ESEEP) will create an interconnected national grid supplying north, central and south Angola to create a 60% electricity access rate by 2025.

Angola will partner with Power Africa, a U.S Government-led partnership coordinated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and The African Development Bank (AfDB). Power Africa will be assisting the AfDB in the connection of pre-paid meters. In December 2019, the Angolan government was given a loan of $500 million from the AfDB to finance the project.

The project is aimed at increasing access to cheaper, more reliable and sustainable electricity to households, industries, businesses and small to medium-sized enterprises in Angola. The program aims to strengthen and broaden the country’s power transmission and distribution system.

It will be the construction of a 343-kilometres, 400kV Central-South transmission line, the improvement of revenue through the installation of prepaid meters and the design and implementation of the program management. The project includes four components which are, the Transmission Network Expansion, the Revenue Improvement Program, Program Management and the Resettlement Action Plan Implementation.

During a webinar hosted by Africa Oil & Power and the African Energy Chamber last month, the Deputy Political-Economic Chief and Energy Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Luanda, Angola, Paul Ghiotto commented on the involvement of the company in the project.

“We are partnering with the AfDB and we are providing support for the AfDB and their more than $500 million loan package,” said Ghiotto. “In addition, Power Africa is providing technical support for Rede Nacionale de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT), the national transmission company; Empresa Nacional de Distribuição de Electricidade (ENDE), the national distribution company; the Regulatory Institute for Electricity and Water Services (IRSEA); and the regulatory agency in partnership with the AfDB and the Angolan government.”

The expansion of the Transmission Network which includes the construction of a 343km long 400kV transmission line, construction of 400kV Substation, construction of line-bay at Huambo substation and the installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system will be completed by RNT, the Revenue Improvement Program which consists of the installation of 860,000 pre-paid meters and the normalisation of existing services to customers, the installation of 400,000 new customers with pre-paid meters and the provision of a GIS customer database system will be completed by ENDE.

Ghiotto spoke on the opportunities for investment by the private sector including a recent tender that was launched for the first step of the TNE part of the project. There has been an available tender for the resettlement plan for the creation of the transmission line and tender bidding documents which has been available since March 2020. More tenders are expected to be launched throughout the project which will last for 4-5 years.

“The private sector will interact with some of the tenders that are forthcoming. I see a real opportunity for companies to come into Angola and compete for those tenders over the next several years,” he said.

Also speaking at the webinar, Energy, Resources & Industrials Partner of Deloitte, Frederico Martins Correia said: “We are partnering with the AfDB and we are providing support for the AfDB and their more than $500 million loan package.”