ACWA Power is joined by Vale and Mitsui as co-sponsors of the project, while the Mozambican state owned utility, Electricity de Mozambique (EDM) and local investor Whatana Investment Group will enter as minority shareholders in the project.
Claimed to be Mozambique’s first large scale greenfield power project to be developed on a BOOT basis with a total investment of $1bn, the Moatize will be a pulverised fuel, subcritical coal fired power station with the coal supplied by Vale from the adjoining mine.
ACWA Power president and CEO Paddy Padmanathan said the signature on concession agreement enables the consortium to complete the financing process and start full scale construction.
"Moatize IPP will significantly enhance ACWA Power’s position as a rapidly expanding power developer in the Southern Cone of Africa, one of our target markets and also helps to diversify ACWA Power’s fuel experience beyond oil, gas and solar to now coal, all the while making a significant addition to the electricity generation capacity of Mozambique and contributing to the socio economic development of the country," Padmanathan added.
GS Engineering & Construction have been selected for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the project, and ACWA Power’s wholly owned subsidiary, NOMAC will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the plant.
Approximately 250MW of the total 300MW are expected to feed the coal mine being developed by Vale at the site, while the remaining 50MW will be supplied to EDM, to feed the grid.
