A tender has now been published by the Cape Verdean government for the installation and commissioning of four new solar power farms. This project was originally presented in Praia on March 28, 2022. These will provide nearly 3.5 megawatts by June 2025. These new solar farms will be on four different islands – Fogo, Maio, Santo Antão and São Nicolau. The tender return date is 30 March 2023. This project will be co-funded with the World Bank. The construction is anticipated to commence by August 2023. The project will include connecting the installations to the national grid and the installation of battery storage.
The energy minister, Alexandre Monteiro also explained that in addition there were five more renewables projects in progress. These include wind and solar. The start of these projects was interrupted by the Covid pandemic. All of these projects are designed to help Cape Verde reach its targets for renewable energy. The current aim is for renewables to provide 30% of the country’s requirements by 2025. And then to provide 50% by 2030. Currently there is too much reliance on fossil fuels. Improving their use of renewables has been a plan for sometime. Cape Verde has good environmental credentials for a small country.
The plan also seeks to improve the performance of the energy sector. This will include private finance to restructure and privatise the current supplier, Electra. Cape Verde is currently one of the sub-Saharan African countries with the highest electricity tariffs. The costs of electricity rose by about 30% in October.
[10 Mar 2023]
