DR Congo to build a 56 MW solar plant with storage

From the newsletter

Renewable energy producer Tinda Energy and China National Complete Plant Import & Export Corporation Limited (Complant) are set to develop a 56 MW solar project with a 22.5 MWh battery energy storage system. The project will include the installation of two 33 kV transmission lines to evacuate power to the national grid.

• Solar projects integrated with battery energy storage are becoming increasingly common in new African projects. Even commercial and industrial customers are installing them for baseload power.

• The DR Congo, though endowed with plenty of hydropower potential, is venturing into solar due to the decline in costs and shorter project development timelines compared to hydropower.

More details

• The total engineering, procurement, and construction cost of this project is approximately $75.96 million. A common obstacle for renewable energy projects has been the absence of adequate infrastructure for power evacuation, leading to costs for offtakers. To address this, new projects are now incorporating the necessary infrastructure into their plant development, ensuring immediate consumption of generated power upon completion.

• The project follows another battery storage project that was announced early this month by Crossboundary Energy for Kamoa Copper Mines. Though the latter targets self-consumption rather than export to the grid. Across the region, many large industrial consumers are increasingly adopting solar power to lower their operational expenses, as the cost of fuel for their backup generators continues to rise sharply.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo is amongst the top three African countries with the highest population lacking access to electricity, along with Nigeria and Ethiopia. Only about 20% of the population has access to electricity, and the situation is worse in rural areas, where access is approximately 1%. The insufficient electricity generation has severely impacted the country's GDP growth. Its industrial capacity is crippled, despite its potential in agriculture and mineral mining. 

• Several initiatives have been put in place to improve electricity connection rates, including the World Bank and AfDB mission to electrify an additional 60 million people by 2030. This would involve both on-grid and off-grid connections. The country is working to incentivise private sector participation and harmonise tariff regulations with neighbouring countries to facilitate electricity trade.

• Energy startups like MOPO are providing rental batteries for the most rural people who cannot afford the complete purchase of the product. In January this year, the company received $7 million from British International Investment to expand its operations. Nuru is deploying mini grids and metrogrids and in 2023 secured $40 million in Series B funding to build 13.7 MW of interconnected mini grids.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo holds immense potential for renewables to meet more than its energy demands. However, mega-projects have often faced financing challenges, as investors shy away from the conflict-prone country. One of its mega-dams, the Grand Inga Dam, which could potentially generate 40,000 MW of hydropower, has failed to kick off. 

• The funding gap to achieve universal electrification is significant and is estimated at $37 billion. The government plans to fund half of this, with the remainder expected to come from the private sector.

Our take

• DR Congo's move towards solar projects reflects a trend across many African countries. Solar integration with battery energy storage is being piloted at a large scale, a show of confidence in technology maturity and reliability.

• The next phase should now make it a policy that all intermittent renewables should be integrated with battery storage. This way, countries can move beyond the pilot phase and rapidly mainstream the deployment of reliable renewable power.

• DR Congo can seize the opportunity of growing battery storage demand and partner with battery manufacturing companies to establish local plants. The country stands to benefit more from its abundant critical mineral reserves