Communication - Presse

Temane Thermal Power Plant to Start Operating in January 2025

The Temane Thermal Power Plant (CTT), located in the Inhassoro district of Inhambane province, will begin operations in January 2025, according to a document from Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) quoted by the Lusa news agency. This plant, described as the largest in the country to use natural gas, will have a production capacity of 450 MegaWatts (MW) from the Pande and Temane gas reserves over a period of 25 years, increasing the country’s installed electricity production capacity by ‘around 16 per cent’.

According to the news release, the aim is to provide access to electricity to more than 1.5 million families by 2030, as part of the government’s universal access to energy programme, as well as contributing to national industrialisation and consolidating Mozambique’s role as an energy hub in southern Africa.

Construction of the plant began in March 2022, including a 563-kilometre power transmission line to Maputo province, at a cost of more than 25.4 billion meticals (400 million dollars).

The CTT project is valued at 41.2 billion meticals (650 million dollars), according to figures from Globeleq, the multinational with a majority stake in the infrastructure. In addition to natural gas, the plant will reuse the steam generated to produce an additional amount of electricity, which will be supplied to EDM for distribution on the national market, with the surplus being exported to the southern African region.

The process of integrating, checking and testing all the plant’s machinery is scheduled for June, ‘due to delays by the contractor and tropical storm Filipo, which negatively impacted the progress of the works’. Storm Filipo hit Mozambique in March.

The article also mentions that EDM said it is selecting and hiring professionals to operate the machines at CTT, recognising delays in this process. ‘All our skills and competences will be put to the test, but we have the opportunity to make it work and manage the infrastructure responsibly, safeguarding EDM’s good name,’ said Pedro Nguelume, EDM’s executive director for business development, on the challenges of training human resources for the CTT operation.

In November, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Carlos Zacarias, had already mentioned that CTT would produce energy from natural gas supplied by a gas production plant currently under construction by the South African multinational Sasol in Inhassoro, more than 70 kilometres from Maputo. ‘One particular point we wanted to emphasise about CTT is that it will produce 450 MW, which will be supplied to the country and, of course, to other clients,’ said Carlos Zacarias.