Electrifying Angola. Empowering people.

Building on an ambitious vision to transition to clean and renewable energy, the Republic of Angola launched one of the largest integrated public renewable energy intervention programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Building seven photovoltaic power plants that can deliver 370 MW of clean, sustainable, and reliable energy to over one million people in Angola. Dar, one of Sidara’s lead design and engineering specialists, provided design review and supervision of construction services to help deliver this exceptional vision.

Making this a reality and facilitating the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as battery storage, for a large proportion of the nation was an intricate challenge.

The Dar team supported the Republic of Angola’s Ministry of Energy in solving complex issues alongside practical considerations. This involved bringing in raw materials to shape fundamental infrastructure, as well as getting on the ground with community leaders to understand the unique challenges facing the remote villages across the nation.

The team’s combination of technical excellence and community-centered engagement is supporting the development of seven photovoltaic power plants, which will ensure a major increase in clean, equitable, and accessible energy for the country. Meanwhile, battery storage for the energy generated ensured that not only was the power supply increased, but so too was its resiliency.

Amplifying sustainability

For every project Sidara take on, we aim to push the limits of what's possible in the field of sustainable design and engineering, from the building process straight through to the finished result.

To ensure the construction process is considerate to the surrounding environment and the world at large, we source the most sustainable raw materials, then ship and build with them in the most sustainable ways possible.

This electrification project is a perfect example of our circular design process. Something not often considered are the bi-products of building infrastructure at this scale: namely, the packaging that comes along with the raw building materials.

Our circular design process yielded a rather innovative idea to further boost sustainability for the project in the short and long-term: the enormous amount of wood packaging used to transport the solar panels were turned into chairs for the people in the community.

As a result of this infrastructure project, the Republic of Angola is ensuring today’s solutions will lead to a brighter tomorrow.

Accelerating the energy transition

The impact of this project has been nothing short of profound, improving the share of renewables in Angola’s national energy mix and enabling the nation’s hydropower plants to increase their storage capacity and prolonging their power supply times.