Congo signs deal for two 100 MW solar plants in copper belt

Must Capital

29/06/2021 01:00

KINSHASA, June 29 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's
state-owned utility company SNEL said on Tuesday it had signed
power purchase agreements for the construction of two 100
megawatt (MW) solar power plants in the copper and cobalt-rich
south-east for more than $300 million.
    SNEL agreed the projects, which are expected to break ground
in March 2022 and start operating in early 2023, with developer
Financing Access, which is partnered with investment fund Green
Power Capital (GPC), the companies said in a joint statement.
    A plant in the town of Kolwezi will cost $148 million, while
a plant in nearby Likasi will cost $157 million. 
    Less than 10% of Congo's roughly 90 million people have
reliable access to electricity, and electricity shortages are a
major impediment to building processing factories to add value
to copper and cobalt exports.  
    Congo is Africa's top copper producer and the world's
biggest miner of cobalt, which is used in batteries for electric
vehicles and other electronic products. 
    "With the signing of this agreement, we will contribute to
securing the energy supply in the major urban and peri-urban
centres," Jean-Bosco Kayombo Kayan, SNEL's Director General,
said in a statement.  
    "Similarly, we will be able to ensure the supply of
electricity to industrialists in the area, in particular the
mining companies which represent the economic lungs of
Haut-Katanga and Lualaba (provinces)," he said.  
    The two plants will provide the Congo's grid with an average
annual production of around 500 gigawatt hours, enough to supply
electricity to more than 1.25 million people, SNEL said. 
    The country has long placed its hopes for energy security in
plans to expand the Inga dams along the Congo River, which could
eventually become the world's largest hydroelectric project, but
progress has repeatedly stalled over financing issues. 

 (Reporting by Hereward Holland
Editing by Aaron Ross and David Evans)
 ((hereward.holland@thomsonreuters.com; +254 20 499 1232;
Reuters Messaging:
hereward.holland.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))