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Ncondezi Energy moves forward

with transmission study

MOZAMBIQUE ENERGY developer Ncondezi Energy said it strengthen the grid and facilitate future trans-
had sent a transmission integration study to state mission expansion plans,” said Pengilly.
utility Electricidad de Moçambique (EDM) for He added: “Tariff negotiations are continuing
its integrated 300MW coal-fired power project in parallel and are progressing positively. The
and coal mine in Tete Province. team continues to work tirelessly to reach our
According to a company statement, the study goals and we look forward to providing further
evaluated a number of transmission connection updates in due course.”
options for the project, taking into account cur- The project will use circulating fluidised
rent and planned changes to the network since bed (CFB) technology, which will comply with
the last study was completed with EDM. OECD guidelines and the most stringent IFC/
The study will be used by EDM to provide World Bank guidelines for coal power plants.
approval on the project transmission option to Coal will be supplied from the development
connect into the Mozambique grid via a 92-km of an adjacent open-cast mine producing 1.5mn
power line. tonnes per year.
Ncondezi Energy said that the power plant Ncondezi plans to sell 100% of power gener-
would be designed to be equipped with state- ated to EDM through a 25-year power purchase
of-the-art emissions controls technologies that agreement (PPA). This will be supported by a
will reduce local air pollutants, minimising the power concession agreement (PCA) to be nego-
plant’s impact on the environment and ensuring tiated with the Mozambican Ministry of Mineral
its compliance with the most stringent emission Resources and Energy.
standards. The country is supporting the exploitation of
This is a key issue, as the use of coal as a gener- its coal reserves in a bid to improve its access-to-
ating fuel is now being heavily criticised globally. power rate, which stood at 30% in 2017, accord-
The falling price of renewables means that many ing to the World Bank.
coal projects now face becoming less economic Indeed, as well as coal, Ncondezi has also
than solar or wind. invested in an off-grid solar battery project.
Ncondezi Energy’s CEO, Hanno Pengilly, The company has secured the right to fund a
said: “It’s a fantastic step forward that we have $5.5mn commercial and industrial (C&I) project
submitted the final draft of the transmission development pipeline in Mozambique through
integration study to EDM for review.” a relationship agreement with a C&I developer.
Following the updated tariff proposal in The company said that its move into the C&I
March 2020, this report was required and has solar and battery storage sector offers a signifi-
been updated with proprietary information from cant opportunity for the company to comple-
EDM, explained Pengilly. ment the existing large-scale baseload power
“The results look encouraging and have iden- project and access near-term low-risk annuity
tified a number of optimisations, which have income streams which have significant growth
the potential to improve transmission line cost, potential.™

Week 32 13•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7