Portuguese group MCA has inaugurated the 31.85 MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) park and 75.26 MWh battery storage facility in Luau, Angola. Now the largest off-grid solar park in Africa, the project was officially opened at a ceremony attended by Angola’s President João Lourenço and Energy Minister João Baptista Borges last week.
Located in a remote town on Angola’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Luau off-grid solar park replaces diesel generation entirely with a combination of solar power and battery storage. The facility’s battery bank ensures nighttime electricity supply and removes the need for fossil fuels.
The Luau solar park project was designed and built by MCA, with Angola’s state-owned electricity production company, PRODEL Ep, acting as project developer. The system generates enough electricity to serve more than 90,000 people in the region.
Beyond local energy access, the solar facility will also support the development of the Lobito Corridor—a strategic railway and logistics infrastructure project designed to connect the Port of Lobito on Angola’s western coast to the DRC and Zambia in the east.
According to MCA, financing for the Luau facility was arranged by Standard Chartered, the London-based lender, backed by a guarantee of approximately one billion euros from Germany’s export credit agency Euler Hermes. The guarantee was further reinsured by Portugal’s COSEC and South Korea’s K-SURE.
“The completion of the Cazombo and Luau parks marks just the beginning of a structural and ambitious programme which will continue to expand in the coming years,” said Manuel Couto Alves, Chair, MCA.
“We believe that energy transforms lives, creates opportunities and strengthens regions, and it is with this aim that we will continue to work, side by side with the communities, to ensure that electrification reaches where it makes the most difference,” added Alves.
Off-grid solar advancing Angola’s energy transition
The Luau solar facility surpasses the capacity of the nearby Cazombo Solar PV Park, which was previously regarded as the continent’s largest off-grid solar installation.
Together, the two projects form part of Angola’s broader Rural Electrification Programme, which aims to deploy 46 autonomous solar mini-grids across 60 communes by 2027. Once completed, the initiative has the potential to benefit more than one million people.
Angola has significantly boosted its solar capacity to over 370 MW through a series of large-scale, nationwide projects, including the completion of seven major solar plants. With the rapid expansion of its portfolio—featuring massive off-grid, battery-hybrid systems—the nation now aims to reach 800 MW of combined solar and wind capacity by the end of 2025.
