The Mozambican government is studying the installation of a gas-fired power plant with the capacity to generate 2,000 megawatts of power at the Beluluane Industrial Park in Maputo province, southern Mozambique, according to news agency AIM.

The project is valued at around US$700 million and is sponsored by Mozambican and foreign investors who intend to produce electricity to start supplying South Africa and other markets in the Southern Africa region.

Lourenço Sambo, director general of the Mozambican Agency for the Promotion of Investments and Exports (APIEX), said that project is also intended to supply energy to the Mozal aluminium smelter.

Sambo said the project has been proposed by companies established in Mozambique that already produce energy from Pande and Temane natural gas, namely Gigawatt, Agreko, CTRG, Livaningo, Electricidade de Moçambique and other foreign investors.

At a later stage, when the backbone project (linking the South and North of Mozambique) is completed, the plant may contribute to the supply of energy to other areas of Mozambique.

Sambo also said that the construction of the Beluluane Thermoelectric Plant could start later this year and could be completed in four years.

The future thermoelectric plant will have the capacity to generate the same amount of power as the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB) facility, which can currently produce up to 2,075 megawatts.

In the first phase of operation, the plant will consume imported natural gas, but when the liquefied natural gas projects of the Rovuma basin in Cabo Delgado province are completed, it will operate based on this local resource.

— Further Africa