Abu Dhabi renewables firm Masdar signed a long-term power purchase agreement for a 150 MW solar project in Angola, marking its first contracted project in the country and a fresh foothold in southern Africa’s power market, according to a press release.

The project: The Quipungo solar plant will anchor Project Royal Sable, a planned 500 MW renewables program across three sites, in partnership with Angola’s state utility firm Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT-EP). The offtake agreement will feed Angola’s southern grid and is expected to create over 2k jobs once the wider portfolio is built out.

Bigger picture

Quipungo plugs into Masdar’s Africa platform via Infinity Power, its JV with Egypt’s Infinity, making Masdar the continent’s largest renewables operator. The JV already runs 1.3 GW across Egypt, South Africa, and Senegal, with a 13.8 GW pipeline spanning storage and green hydrogen, and is fresh off new 1.2 GW solar-plus-storage agreements in Egypt.

Zooming out

Angola is fast becoming a repeat destination for UAE capital. Abu Dhabi-backed players are active across energy, real estate, and infrastructure — from mining and an AED 1.8 bn mixed-use development to a new USD 500 mn pan-African infrastructure fund launched in Abu Dhabi to channel Gulf capital into African energy and transport assets. The two countries inked a trade agreement last summer, with Angola cited as a key import source for diamonds, gold, and other minerals for the UAE.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

Tags: