African power development company Ncondezi Energy Ltd (LON:NCCL) has secured exclusive land use rights for a site in Mozambique where it plans to build a 300-MW solar-plus-storage complex.
The contract with the national government is tied to an area in Tete Province covering 950 hectares (2,348 acres), Ncondezi said on Monday. The site called Direito do Uso e Aproveitamento da Terra (DUAT) is located within a coal-based thermal power plant and has the potential of hosting up to 500 MW photovoltaic (PV) capacity.
Ncondezi kicked off a feasibility study on the project in July 2022 and completed it three months later, concluding that the scheme is technically viable within the preferred location. It expects to make an update on the preferred transmission options in the next two months.
Planned to be installed within Ncondezi Mining’s concession area, in the districts of Moatize and Chiuta, the solar farm will deliver first power to the grid from up to 60 MW as early as 2024. The whole project could be delivered in 28 months, the developer said last October.
Potentially, the solar farm’s output will be sold in Mozambique and the Southern African Power Pool.
