Mozambique’s 450-megawatt Central Termica de Temane (CTT) station, a planned gas-fired power plant, has been delayed until 2027 after rising construction costs disrupted the project’s original timeline.
This was confirmed by the project builder, Globeleq in a cooperate statement on Tuesday, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The delay pushes the project back by more than two years. The plant was expected to begin generating power in late 2023.
Globeleq’s Country and Business Development Director, Samir Sale, said extreme weather, post election protests, and the exit of the original construction contractor caused the delay.
“The project’s estimated cost of $652 million has increased significantly, though a financial evaluation is ongoing,” Sale said.
He added that the government is examining ways to reduce the financial impact of the cost overruns of the project.
According to Sale, the timeline disruption began when Spanish contractor TSK, awarded the construction contract after financial close in 2021, left the site in April 2024.
Turkish firm takes over construction
Late last year, Turkey’s Enka Insaat signed a $159 million contract to complete the remaining work. When Enka arrived, construction was already 70% complete, Sale said.
“We have confidence in Enka and are fully committed to finishing the project as quickly as possible,” Sale said.
The government has set a target to provide electricity to the entire population by 2030. For now, coverage stood at 60% in 2024. Rural access stands at about 5%, compared to roughly 75% in urban areas, according to Energypedia data.
CTT has a 25-year power purchase agreement to supply electricity to Mozambique’s state utility, Electricidade de Moçambique EP. The contract will see the 450-megawatt plant feed power directly into the national grid starting from its commissioning in 2027.
The plant will use gas supplied by state producer Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos and Sasol Ltd. from fields in Inhambane province, where the power station is located.
Domestic gas for domestic electricity
Mozambique holds estimated recoverable natural gas reserves of 150 trillion cubic feet from discoveries in 2010-2011.
The gas fields in Cabo Delgado province remain largely undeveloped for domestic use.
“We see an opportunity to generate electricity as one of Mozambique’s suppliers and we are positioning ourselves as such,” Sale said, describing Globeleq’s approach to the Mozambican market.
TotalEnergies’ $20 billion Mozambique LNG project has been suspended since 2021 after armed militants linked to Islamic State escalated violence in the region. The project was only formally restarted earlier this year.
The Pande and Temane gas fields that will supply CTT currently export most of their output to South Africa through the ROMPCO pipeline.
StopMozGas data shows that of the over 120 million gigajoules produced annually from these fields, about 3 million gigajoules remains in Mozambique, primarily for major industrial users.
Globeleq’s African track record
Globeleq, majority-owned by British International Investment and Norway’s Norfund, has built nearly 1,800 megawatts of power generation capacity across seven African countries including South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, and Cameroon.
The company reached commercial close in June 2025 on the 153 MW Red Sands battery energy storage project in South Africa, described as Africa’s largest standalone battery facility.
A 2024 Afrobarometer survey found that 53% of Mozambican citizens rated their government’s performance on electricity supply as poor.
