Angola Capacitor Energy Storage Project

With the ongoing solar projects under development in Angola with an installed capacity amounting to 500 MW, it is urgent to start thinking about efficient energy storage solutions. What structural challenges must be addressed for Angola to seize its renewable energy potential?

Fernando Prioste, CEO of COBA Group, talks to The Energy Year about Angola's potential for deploying pumped-storage hydroelectricity and hydrogen solutions as it develops a robust energy industry and the central role of COBA Group in the country's power arena.

This is not possible in Angola as there is no gas grid, but the hydrogen obtained from renewable energies can be shipped overseas or converted into ammonium. In turn, this chemical compound can be used as an energy storage component that could be exported or used for the fertiliser industry.

Angola has everything it needs to achieve energy self-sufficiency through renewable sources – not only water, but also sun and wind. With these three natural resources, Angola could achieve the transition from oil and gas to renewable energies, and then boost its energy self-sufficiency.

There's a possibility that Angola will become a hydrogen producer using the excess of power during non-peak consumption periods, considering the future capacities of solar and wind projects. With its experience in the energy sector, COBA will be able to help the national authorities with this challenge.

COBA has a large footprint in Angola's water and energy sector. As authors of the National Water Plan and of the National Irrigation Plan, finished in 2015 and 2011, respectively, we collected a huge amount of data from the country's soils, climate and water resources.