From The Africa Report

Angola’s plans to invest $23 billion by 2017 on its electricity network to help create new sectors in the oil-producing economy can only work if its energy companies become more efficient and skilled, senior officials said on Wednesday.

Angola, Africa’s No. 2 oil producer, wants to cut its reliance on crude output but the country’s old, war-ravaged and under-capacity energy network hampers investment in new sectors. Oil output represents over 95 percent of Angola’s export income and around 45 percent of its gross domestic product.

As the country posts fast economic growth – estimated at 7.1 percent for 2013 – home and business energy consumption often brings the grid to its knees, resulting in long blackouts.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s government has pledged to solve the problem by building several dams to quintuple installed production capacity and by investing in electrical grids.

“Our energy policy has to be a lever for the economy, creating conditions for new companies in various sectors, jobs and wealth for the country and individuals,” Joaquim Ventura, Secretary of State for Energy, told a conference in Luanda.

Read more at theafricareport.com