Italian major Eni and Angola's state energy firm Sonangol on Wednesday in Luanda signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a new jointly controlled company, Solenova to assess and develop renewable energy projects in Africa's second oil producer, Eni said in a statement.
"Angola is a strategic country for Eni’s organic growth," said the statement.
The creation of Solenova is in line with the country's energy strategy which establishes a target 800 MW of renewable capacity installed by 2025, with a specific focus on industrial-scale solar projects, the statement said.
The first business opportunity jointly identified in the renewable energy sector is the phased development of a 50 MWp photovoltaic plant in the southern part of Angola, which currently relies mainly on diesel thermal plants for electricity production.
This initiative, and others under evaluation, are in line with the Angolan global strategy for the electricity sector of promoting renewable energy with the aim of cutting diesel consumption and lowering operating costs and polluting CO2 emissions.
Eni's renewables strategy involves investing 1.4 billion euros from 2019-2022 in the construction of over 60 brownfield and greenfield projects worldwide that will generate over 1.6 GW of wind and solar power by 2022 and up to 5 GW by 2025, according to the statement.
Eni has operated in Angola since 1980 and its equity production is currently around 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the statement said.
Angola's president Joao Lourenco this week unveiled a strategy to secure further investment to boost the country's struggling energy industry and bolster its stumbling economy that shrank after crude oils's 2014-2017 crash.
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