Maputo, Nov. 27, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of the Mozambican renewable energy association said on Thursday that the country had installed more than 700,000 domestic solar systems by 2024, benefiting thousands of people, but noted financial challenges to ensuring access in rural areas.
‘We have more than 700,000 systems installed, assuming that there are five people per system, (...) we are talking about a significant number in the millions of Mozambicans who are [receiving electricity] through these solutions,’ said the president of the Mozambican Renewable Energy Association (Amer), Ricardo Pereira.
Speaking in Maputo during the opening of the 2nd Edition of the Biannual Off-Grid Energy Forum, he said that the country will have more than 111 solar and hydro mini-grids installed by 2024, producing more than 11.58 megawatts (MW).
According to him, the installation of these systems under the management of the Mozambican Energy Fund (Funae) has led to significant growth in the sector.
‘This growth has also been accompanied by significant institutional innovation, including efforts to introduce payments for digital wallets and structure hybrid private management models,’ he said.
He also pointed out challenges with tariffs, concessions, and transparency in the regulation of private-sector projects. He emphasised that these challenges will be overcome to allow greater access to renewable energy in rural areas.
‘For home social systems, one of the major challenges at the moment is to address the issue of financing, (...) the mechanisms and incentives available, and also to introduce this new issue of electronic waste,’ said the association's representative.
Pereira said that the country currently has only 60% electrification through solar systems, and that universal access will be guaranteed by 2030.
‘This means that we have almost 40% of our population that we have to work to provide access to over the next five years,’ said Ricardo Pereira, adding that an investment of more than $80 billion (€69.2 billion) is estimated for the energy transition strategy for major projects, transport and industry by 2050.
The national director of Energy, Marcelina Mataveia, considered the biannual forum a platform for aligning strategic and political thinking on off-grid energy, calling for the acceleration of financing mechanisms and the implementation of renewable energies.
According to the director, the mechanisms should also enable sustainable development by using low-carbon technologies and generating social, economic, and inclusive growth.
In the last decade, Mozambique has almost doubled its electrification rate. Yet, more than half of the population still lacked electricity in 2022, and access to clean cooking energy is extremely low, with only 7% of the population using modern solutions, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) released in October by Lusa.
This international body wants Mozambique to strengthen its energy planning and data systems, including adopting transparent monitoring tools for the use of energy resources, stating that it aims to ‘serve a rapidly growing population’.
Mozambique continues to rely heavily on hydroelectric power, with the IEA pointing out that other renewable energy sources ‘remain largely untapped’.
The agency also notes that Mozambique's Energy Transition strategy, approved in 2023 and aimed at accelerating universal access to energy, still faces infrastructure challenges.
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