The terrorism that has plagued some areas of the districts of Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique, is making it difficult to meet the government’s rural electrification target, which is to light up the entire national territory by 2030. The information was published on Monday, July 22, by the news portal Carta de Moçambique.
According to Alexandra Links, general manager of Engie Energy Access, the company involved in the solar-powered rural electrification project, violence in the region has prevented the company from expanding its services to Cabo Delgado. “We have been operating in the country since 2019 and are present in more than 50 districts and in all of Mozambique’s provinces, with the exception of Cabo Delgado. We pay a lot of attention to security issues,” said Links.
In addition to terrorism, Alexandra Links highlighted other challenges that hinder the goal of rural electrification. Among these challenges are the dispersion of the rural population, the inability of communities to pay for services, the lack of tax incentives and the insufficient telecommunications infrastructure to support the mobile money payment model.
Since 2019, Engie Energy Access has invested more than 1.2 billion meticais (20 million dollars) across the country, reaching more than 230,000 families, which corresponds to around 1.2 million people, mainly farmers and small businesses. The company employs more than 200 full-time professionals in areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, product diagnostics and logistics.
“Our vision is to prioritize rural electrification and meet the goal of universal access to energy. This journey has not been easy, but it has been incredibly rewarding. We are a leading player in the Mozambican solar market, providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy solutions for homes, businesses and infrastructure,” concluded Alexandra Links.
With the rural electrification target threatened by terrorism in Cabo Delgado, the situation raises concerns about the ability of the government and the companies involved to achieve the goal of lighting up the whole of Mozambique by 2030. The authorities and partners are challenged to find solutions to guarantee security and enable the expansion of electrification services in the affected areas, thus allowing more Mozambicans to have access to sustainable energy.
