Restoring the electricity industry to normal will not be light work
Cross-border cooperation, along with peace, stability and funds is needed

witching on the light has yet to become an everyday part of normal life for many Angolans. Even in the major towns and cities, as much as 15 percent of people are still without electricity, and the proportion is much higher outside these areas.
Power stations and transmission lines have been regular targets during the civil conflict – the main electricity substation serving Luanda was attacked as recently as September – with the inevitable result that the investment needed to expand the system has been discouraged.
Energy and water minister Luis Filipe da Silva says: “I don’t have any doubts that if we reach peace and stability in our country, we will be able to normalize the situation in five years and provide energy in the main urban centers.”

Nelumba: quality

However, restoring Angola’s electricity industry to normal carries a high price – half a billion dollars, according to the minister’s own estimates. “And when I say $500 million, I am not just talking about expanding our operations but also, in general terms, of reconstructing infrastructure,” he says.
Eduardo Gomes Nelumba, president of the national power company, Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE), which supplies 80 percent of the power consumed in the country, sees private sector investment as the only way to improve Angola’s supply.
“We are convinced that the state alone cannot support a suitable energy sector with quality, so there is a need to get foreign investors,” he says.

With an estimated hydroelectricity potential of 150,000 GWh, most of which has yet to be fully exploited, Angola could meet not only its own needs but also become a key source of energy in southern Africa.
“Our energy sector is extremely promising and our hydroelectric potential is very large,” says Mr Nelumba. And, of course, Angola also has massive reserves of oil and natural gas, some of which
is available for electricity generation.
In particular, the sector has its eye on doing business with Angola’s southern and eastern neighbors in
the Southern African Development Community (SADC). “I would say that in future there is a real possibility of our energy being made available to SADC countries,” says Mr Nelumba.
ENE is an active partner in a fledgling southern African power pool, but advancing the cause of increased cross-border cooperation for electricity supply will require major projects to build a network of transmission grids.