Two of three Angolan solar sites remain uncontracted under Masdar’s 500MW southern programme

The 150MW Quipungo project in Huila province was the first site signed under Project Royal Sable, in an agreement with the state transmission company in January. The remaining two sites have no offtake in place. Completed, the programme would reach around 300,000 homes.

Masdar has contracted one of the three sites in Project Royal Sable, a 500MW solar programme designed to strengthen Angola’s southern power grid. The other two remain without an offtake agreement.

The first was signed on 11 January at the sixteenth IRENA General Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade, the Angolan state transmission company, took the offtake on the 150MW Quipungo project in Huila province, in Masdar’s first power purchase agreement in the country. The programme is being developed in partnership with RNT-EP and supported through IRENA’s Energy Transition Accelerator Financing platform. Completed, it is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs and deliver electricity to around 300,000 homes.

Angola had 419MW of operational solar according to the Africa Solar Industry Association’s project database, 54MW of it installed during 2025, and was the fifth-largest African solar market by capacity in 2024. The country also hosts the continent’s largest off-grid solar and storage project, inaugurated by the Portuguese group MCA in December.

Masdar announced its intention to develop in Angola in 2023, as part of a wider UAE commitment to 10GW of new renewable capacity across the continent. Through its Infinity Power joint venture, the company operates 1.3GW of solar and onshore wind in South Africa, Egypt and Senegal, with a 13.8GW pipeline including battery storage and green hydrogen, and is targeting a 100GW portfolio by 2030.

Abdulaziz Alobadli signed for Masdar and Mauro Hernany Ferrerira Martins, Executive Director for Market Operations and Regulatory Affairs, signed for RNT-EP.

Masdar Chief Executive Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said the Quipungo agreement demonstrates how long-term partnerships and structured offtake arrangements accelerate the deployment of utility-scale renewables in support of national clean energy ambitions.

Photo Credits: Masdar