The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) government-owned national electricity provider SNEL plans to construct two solar-powered facilities with a combined capacity of 200MW slated to become operational by H1 2023.
Snel has signed a power purchase agreement for the two plants to be set up in DRC’s copper mining hubs Kolwezi and Likasi with two other investors, DRC’s Financing Access Congo and China’s Green Power Capital. Both facilities will supply the grid with about 500GWh a much-needed addition to the existing plant at Katanga in the southwest. The estimated cost of both facilities is over $300mn, noted media reports on Tuesday.
DRC’s copper and cobalt belts have been impeded with electrical outages, stalling construction, and mining activity. The region’s miners need 600MW and at present, the operational power plant has a 567MW output which falls short of the total demand by 900MW.