Almost half a century separates a country where less than 2% of the population had access to electricity from a Mozambique where energy now reaches 66.9% of its citizens. It is on this path of transformation, but also in the face of the challenge of bringing electricity to all Mozambicans by 2030, that Electricidade de Moçambique, E.P. (EDM) marked 49 years of existence and officially launched the campaign for the celebrations of its fiftieth anniversary.
During the Workshop that marked the company's anniversary celebration and the launch of the 50-year campaign, an anniversary to be marked in 2027, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, António Manda, made it clear that achieving universal access to energy will require a combined effort on several fronts.
According to the official, it will be necessary to increase generation capacity, expand and modernise the electricity grids, diversify the energy mix, mobilise investment and ensure permanent coordination among the companies that make up the national energy sector.
“As is common knowledge, Mozambique has abundant water, solar, wind and natural gas resources, capable of meeting national needs and of strengthening our position in the Southern African Region. The challenge is to turn this potential into electricity that is available, competitive and sustainable, promoting an energy transition suited to the country's development priorities,” said António Manda.
For the Permanent Secretary, the growth of energy capacity must be accompanied by institutional transformation. In this regard, he argued that EDM should continue to establish itself as a modern, efficient and results-oriented company, maintaining high standards of ethics and institutional responsibility.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDM, Joaquim Ou-Chim, focused his address on the path travelled by the company since its creation. The figures, he stressed, convey the scale of the change: in 1977, less than 2% of the Mozambican population had access to electricity. Currently, the rate has reached 66.9%, also counting solutions installed outside the National Electricity Grid.
The progress achieved over almost five decades does not, however, put an end to the company's challenges. Joaquim Ou-Chim assured his audience that EDM will remain committed to implementing management and business models underpinned by technological innovation, the modernisation of systems and reforms aimed at maximising the production and sale of reliable, quality electricity.
It is in this context that the company enters the countdown to its 50th anniversary, seeking to turn the experience accumulated over almost half a century into a foundation for meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving energy sector and the national ambition of universalising access to electricity.
The Workshop launching the fiftieth anniversary celebrations therefore served as a space for reflection on the lessons learned, the challenges that remain and the prospects for EDM's future in its almost 50 years of lighting up Mozambique.
The ceremony was also marked by a photographic exhibition conceived as a visual testimony to the institution's history, to the people who have been part of its journey and to the achievements of recent decades, a portrait of the transformation of Electricidade de Moçambique into a national asset.
