MCA participates in an international consortium that has developed the largest solar park in sub-
Saharan Africa, leading the Engineering, Procurement and Construction activities.
MCA concluded, in Angola, last July 20, two photovoltaic parks in Biópio and Baía Farta, in Benguela province, with an installed capacity of 285 megawatts (MWp), which will produce green electricity to supply about 1.8 million people. MCA is part of the international consortium responsible for the development of the project, having led its execution phase in Engineering, Procurement and Construction.
The two parks are part of Angola’s 2018-2022 National Development Plan to diversify the country’s energy production sources.
With an expected installed capacity of 189 megawatts (MWp) of electricity, enough to supply over a million consumers, the photovoltaic plant in Biópio, Catumbela municipality, is the biggest solar energy project in Angola and sub-Saharan Africa. The park includes around 509,000 solar panels. The second plant, Baía Farta, with 96 MWp, will inject energy into the national grid to benefit over half a million consumers and is made up of around 261,000 solar panels.
The plants are part of a set of seven, with a total capacity of 370 MWp in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié, Lunda-Norte (in Lucapa), Lunda-Sul (in Saurimo) and Moxico (in Luena), which should be operational by the end of the year. Together they will provide renewable and clean electricity to around 2.4 million people.
The implementation of this project will represent an important contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. It will allow an annual reduction of pollutant emissions of about one million tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide), eliminating the need to consume about 215 million litres of diesel per year in generators and thermal production, and contributing to a considerable saving in the country’s imports.
MCA is a Portuguese group founded in 1998 in Guimarães, Portugal, by entrepreneur Manuel Couto Alves. Its activities focus on four business verticals, namely Energy, Urban Development, Construction and Health. MCA began its internationalisation in 2006 in the Angolan market and is today focused on four geographic clusters that include the Iberian Peninsula, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. The company seeks to create and share long-term value, promoting sustainable and inclusive development in the communities where it operates.