EDM presents new company to manage Tete-Maputo power line

Maputo, 6 Dec (AIM) – The publicly owned electricity company, EDM, on 5 December announced that a new company has been set up to manage the “Espinha Dorsal” Project which will see the construction of a 1,400 kilometre long electricity transmission line from Tete in the centre of Mozambique to the capital city Maputo.

According to EDM chief executive, Francisco Inroga, the National Energy Transmission Company (STE), is 100 per cent owned by EDM, and will operate under the National Energy Strategy. This strategy aims to guarantee universal access to electricity, strengthen Mozambique's position as a regional power generation pole, and diversify the national energy matrix to contribute to the country's industrial and socio-economic development.

According to the daily newspaper “Notícias”, citing Inroga, STE will focus on transporting electricity safely and with good quality, reducing the levels of losses during transmission. Among its partners are the World Bank, Norway, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

In addition, the Mozambican government in early 2016 approved the priority allocation of gas from the Pande/Temane fields (in Inhambane) to the Temane Thermal Power Plant (CTT) project, which has a capacity of 450 megawatts. In order to establish the means for the transmission of this electricity, the development of the Temane-Maputo Transmission Line Project (TTP), which constitutes phase 1 of “Espinha Dorsal”, was prioritised. Based on this, EDM created STE to develop and execute, the Temane-Maputo 400 kV line project and, in a later phase, the Tete-Maputo line, also at 400 kV.

The Temane-Maputo transmission project consists of the construction of the 400 kV line between Temane and Maputo and three new substations, at Vilankulo, Chibuto and Matalane and the extension of the Maputo substation, which is already in operation.

(AIM)