Energy Access in Mozambique

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Introduction

According to the latest available data, Mozambique has made significant progress in expanding access to electricity and clean cooking. In 2025, the national electrification rate reached 66.4%, bringing the country closer to the Government of Mozambique’s target of achieving universal electricity access by 2030. However, access to clean cooking remains a major challenge, with only 17% of the population having access to clean cooking solutions in 2025. The Government aims to increase this figure to 54% by 2030.

Electricity access has continued to expand through both grid and off-grid solutions. In 2025, the national electricity utility, EDM, added approximately 436,000 new connections, close to the 440,000 annual connections required to achieve universal access by 2030. Off-grid electrification also contributes to expanding access, although the 122,000 connections recorded in 2025 remained below the estimated 180,000–200,000 annual connections needed. Despite this progress, significant efforts are still required to reach underserved communities, particularly in rural areas, and to ensure that access to electricity is accompanied by reliable and affordable services.

This article provides an overview of the energy access situation in Mozambique in three areas: households (lighting and cooking); public institutions; and productive use of energy.

Energy for Households

Energy for Cooking

Approximately 95% of Mozambican households rely on traditional biomass fuels for cooking. According to the Briefing Renewables in Mozambique 2025, solid biomass and charcoal accounted for 65% of Mozambique’s total final energy consumption in 2022 and 97% of energy consumption in the residential sector. Total energy consumption reached 358 PJ, representing a 63% increase compared to 2010.

According to the 2019 FinScope survey, the most common cooking fuels and technologies were firewood (firewood), used by 64% of the adult population, charcoal (charcoal), used by 22%, grid electricity (8%), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (3%), solar energy (1%), kerosene (1%), private generators (0.1%), and other fuels (1%). Approximately 2% of the population did not cook or did not use any cooking system or fuel.

Access to clean cooking solutions remains a significant challenge. According to the 2025 Briefing, only about 17% of the population had access to improved or clean cooking solutions in 2023, including LPG, natural gas, electric stoves and improved cookstoves. The National Energy Compact sets a target of increasing access to modern cooking solutions to approximately 54% by 2030. In 2025, 13 companies and four support programmes were identified in the sector, with a cumulative total of 938,941 improved cookstoves sold up to that year.

Traditional biomass use for cooking, particularly in enclosed spaces without adequate ventilation, poses significant health risks. Burning firewood and charcoal in open fires or inefficient stoves releases smoke and pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. According to previous World Health Organization estimates, household air pollution is associated with millions of premature deaths worldwide. In Mozambique, estimates from 2015 indicated approximately 18,000 premature deaths and 696,000 disability-adjusted life years attributable to household air pollution.

The lack of access to clean cooking technologies also has significant gender impacts. Women and girls are often primarily responsible for collecting and transporting firewood, exposing them to risks of gender-based violence, animal attacks and the loss of time that could otherwise be devoted to education and economic activities. The unsustainable use of biomass, particularly for charcoal production, also contributes to pressure on forest resources. Previous data identified unsustainable agriculture, woodfuel production and urban expansion among the main drivers associated with forest loss in Mozambique.

GIZ, (Energising Development Mozambique - EnDev programme), a German development organisation focusing on international cooperation for sustainable development, in partnership with the Foundation for Community Development - FDC, through the Fund for Sustainable Access to Renewable Energy - FASER , supports local producers in the implementation of standards for the production and commercialisation of improved cookers. These cookers are 60% more efficient compared to traditional cookers, minimising cooking costs in all beneficiary families.

For more information about the impact of lack of clean cooking solutions, please see this article.

For an overview of the efforts to increase access to clean cooking solutions in Mozambique and the status of the market, please see this chapter.

Energy for Lighting

The most common forms of lighting in rural areas include kerosene lamps (17% of the adult population), solar energy (14%), candles (12%), torches and batteries (7%), and other sources, including fire (17%). Approximately 18% of the rural adult population does not use any form of lighting. As income increases, the use of kerosene, candles, torches and other traditional sources decreases, while reliance on grid electricity increases.

In urban areas, grid electricity is the most common source of lighting (68%), followed by candles (7%), kerosene lamps (7%), solar energy (4%), torches (2%) and other sources (7%). Approximately 5% of the urban adult population has no access to any form of lighting. These figures, based on the 2019 FinScope survey, highlight the differences in access to modern energy services between rural and urban areas.

Fuel-based lighting, particularly kerosene lamps and candles, is inefficient, expensive and poses fire risks as well as exposure to pollutants. Access to affordable, sustainable and reliable lighting sources, such as grid electricity and off-grid solutions — including mini-grids and solar home systems — is therefore essential to improving household living conditions, particularly in rural areas.

In recent years, Mozambique has made progress in expanding decentralised energy solutions. According to the Briefing Renewables in Mozambique 2025, a total of 895,409 solar home systems (SHS) had been sold by 2024. The country also has 113 mini-grids, corresponding to an installed capacity of approximately 11.7 MW. These solutions play an important role in expanding electricity access in communities located far from the national grid.

Among the initiatives promoting rural electrification is the pilot project on solar-based swarm electrification, co-financed by GIZ through the Green People's Energy programme in 2020. Implemented in Inhassoro District, Inhambane Province, the project reached approximately 30 households and introduced solar systems equipped with metering technology and mobile money payment facilities. In addition to improving access to lighting, the initiative created opportunities for productive uses of energy, including the use of freezers for fish preservation.

For a list of initiatives, please see this article.

Energy for Institutions 

Electrification of institutions such as health clinics, schools, shops etc allows the operation of services even after dark. In case of schools, they are able to introduce night classes, thus increasing attendance rates and the schools can also be converted into community centres in the evening. Another way in which institutions benefit from electrification is the possibility to have internet access to improve the quality of their services and promote digital learning. Data from the After Access Survey in Mozambique shows that only 10% of the population uses internet. In hospitals and health institutions, the presence of a cold chain decreases the risk of spoiled vaccines and is key for bringing vaccines such as COVID-19 vaccines to the most remote rural communities. Reliable electricity is also needed for running medical appliances and preventing medical appliance breakdown due to unreliable electricity. Mozambique is also prone to natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and landslides. Thus, access to reliable energy is also needed to power Early Warning Systems. These communication systems make it possible to warn the community before a natural disaster strikes.

Mozambique’s Fundo de Energia (FUNAE) is the public institution responsible for off-grid rural electrification with a special focus on renewable energy. With monetary support from Mozambique’s utility company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), FUNAE has electrified 580 schools, 74 administrative post buildings and 561 health centres in 260 villages by 2012. In 2021, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) approved a grant to electrify 92 health facilities in Sofala Province. The Government of Mozambique with support from the World Bank continues the efforts to achieve electrification of schools, health centres and administrative buildings through the national programme Mozambique Energy for All (ProEnergia). The target is to provide grid connections to 400 public facilities by the end of 2024.

In 2020, GIZ electrified 42 health stations in Gaza, Inhambane, Manica and Zambézia using solar systems. Additionally, they installed solar powered water disinfectants for providing clean water and disinfecting surgical equipment, befitting the patients and healthcare professionals, as shown in the following video.

Energy for Productive Use

Agriculture

Mozambique is an agricultural country where over 70% of the population depend on agricultural for livelihood. Thus, access to energy is key for powering and mechanising agricultural processes along the value chain i.e. production (irrigation), harvesting (using machineries), post-harvest storage (cooling units) and processing (drying, milling). It is also important for increasing the efficiency of agricultural processes, reducing post-harvest loss and for food processing and preservation.

The Mozambique Government is aware of this need for electrifying agricultural processes. Thus, the National Electrification Strategy states the importance of prioritising grid expansion to areas with high potential demand for industries, irrigation schemes and commercial farming, among others. In a similar manner, it suggests that productive areas should be the focus for the deployment of mini-grids to guarantee responsiveness to irrigation and agricultural demands. However, agricultural processes such as irrigation is still rudimentary and mostly relaying on rain-fed agriculture. FUNAE has been making an effort to mechanise irrigation process such that between 2006 and 2016, FUNAE installed 60 solar irrigation systems. The Government’s Strategic Plan on Agriculture Development 2010-2020 also aimed to support irrigation through solar power.

In 2018, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) distributed solar powered water pumps to smallholder farmers in the Zambezia, Sofala and Tete provinces. By 2020, the project installed 80 photovoltaic systems benefitting about 4,000 farmers.

For more information about solar irrigation in Mozambique, please see this chapter.

Businesses

Reliable energy access is an important part of a prosperous business. Without energy access, variety in production is limited to only certain goods, production might not be stable, and the use of machinery is constrained. About 4.9 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are present in Mozambique, from which 85% are located in rural areas. FinScope Survey data from 2012 showed that only 7% of MSME businesses in Mozambique have access to electricity.

ProEnergia, the Mozambique Energy for All programme by the World Bank and the Government of Mozambique, aims to provide 400 enterprises with grid connections by the end of 2024.

GIZ, through the Green People's Energy - GPE programme, promotes the productive use of energy with solar sewing machines. The initiative includes free short-term training on how to use the machines and distribution of solar sewing machines to women displaced from Cabo Delgado province into the Nampula province due to the current political-military situation.

Further Information

• Mozambique - Electricity Situation
• Mozambique - Renewable Energy (RE) Potential
• Policy Framework & Energy Access Strategies in Mozambique