Invitation for His Excelency the Minister of Energy and Waters, João Baptista Borges

Angola is a country with vast endogenous energy resources, with important oil and gas reserves, and the characteristics of its rivers and their relief mean it has one of the greatest potentials for hydroelectric production on the African continent. Furthermore, the extension of its territory and its geographical location provide the country with extraordinary solar potential.

The international conference "Renewable Energy in Angola 2022" will provide an overview of Renewable Energies. Angola, by 2025 intends to electrify 50% of the population and that at least 7.5% of the electricity generated in the country comes from renewable energy sources other than large hydro, with a total power of 800 MW planned. The main objectives of the New Renewables Strategy are to improve access to energy services in rural areas, renewable energy as well as developing the use of new renewable energy technologies in the grid and also the promotion of private investment.

Specific objectives and guidelines for each type of renewable energy have been listed, promoting in the case of solar energy the development of production units in the country, in particular:

Solar energy – reaching 100 MW of installed capacity, 10 MW of which is off-grid, together with the creation of a PV panel production unit and associated cluster.
Small hydropower plants (up to 10 MW) – reaching 100 MW with at least 60 MW targeted to the electrification
of municipal capitals based on isolated systems.
Biomass – reaching 500 MW of installed capacity, supporting the creation and development of new agricultural and livestock projects, particularly sugar cane, new forestry holdings in the central and eastern regions of the country and the creation of incineration units for urban waste.
Wind energy – reaching 100 MW of installed capacity, withgreater regional diversification and better use of existing
infrastructures.
Other types of renewable energy sources – support the creation of a Research & Development centre for renewable
energy in Angola.

Another objective focuses on promoting and encouraging public and private investment through the creation of specific legislation for renewable energies, feed-in tariffs for projects up to 10 MW, the creation of credit lines to stimulate private initiative in rural areas and the development of communication campaigns and technical training sessions. Improving the living conditions of women in rural areas, creating local jobs, promoting business, education and security impairment are cross-cutting aspects that the strategy also promotes.

National renewable energy is at an embryonic stage and the participation of the private sector is still incipient. Although
national legislation, strategies and plans refer to the importance and the intention of involving the private sector in access to energy, the actual operational and commercial context is not yet conducive to this. However, in order to realise the long-term vision for the power sector, it will be necessary to mobilise resources as well as public and private investment
in the order of USD 23 billion.

In this sense, public investment should be progressively replaced by long-term private funding. Public investment should
therefore be reserved for public projects such as large dams, investments in the national transmission grid and expansion
of the electricity distribution grid.

Private sector opportunities to intervene in the renewable energy market are divided into investments in grid-connected systems and investments in off-grid systems. In either case, mobilising private investment will require the sector to be able to generate revenue to sustain the investments to be made in the medium and long term. Thus, efficiency in revenue collection should be one of the priorities of the electricity sector in Angola, bearing in mind that distributed electricity needs to be accounted for and paid for its use at adjusted tariffs that do justice to the cost of operation and investment in generating plants.

Therefore, monitoring, monitoring and monitoring of losses alongside the end of the covenants and the widespread installation of prepaid meters should be a priority. In addition, collection agents' systems should be optimised and practical and accessible means of payment made available, for example pay-go. Finally, the concession and/or sub-concession of progressive to private distribution areas may be another measure to be implemented.

Another priority should be the progressive updating of tariffs. It is expected that by 2025, 90% of consumption will come from urban areas, where purchasing power is also higher, and such services may account for 30% of electricity consumption. Thus, it is important to eradicate the concept that consumers are unable to pay for electricity supply, and instead establish payment scales according to the level of vulnerability of customers.

The creation of the necessary conditions at the level of the single buyer will be crucial for private sector confidence so that financing can be mobilised for the energy sector.

In terms of financing, multilateral and bilateral financial institutions will still play a very important role, with the domestic financial sector not very involved. However, certain recent initiatives aim to change this trend and increase the participation of domestic commercial banks. Obtaining guarantees remains the main barrier.

Also with regard to the involvement of the private sector, it was found that there was a need for a platform bringing together all private stakeholders, to promote the exchange of information, defend the interests of the private sector and implement effective advice and discussion mechanisms with decision makers and other relevant actors.

I can only wish everyone a good conference and that the information that will be discussed and conveyed at this event can be very useful to you.