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DRC – Solar for the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the heart of Africa. Its rainforest is one of the two carbon sinkholes of the world. It’s the 2^nd largest rainforest remaining in the world and it sits astride the Congo one of the worlds great rivers. This has given it enormous potential for hydro electric power and almost 100% of its grid power is HEP.

 The DRC is the largest country in Sub Saharan Africa occupying 2,345,000 km2 with 3.32% as standing water including rivers and lakes. Its sheer size, lush vegetation and landscape has been its problem since independence in 1960.  Europeans first reached the Congo in the 15^thCentury when Portuguese explorers discovered the Congo River. They found a Kingdom of the Congo which was had been in power for two hundred years and which survived until the 19^th Century. In the 19^th Century the Belgians arrived and in the famous 1885 Berlin conference Belgium in the form of King Leopold was allocated the whole of the Congo basin. He extracted wild rubber and used forced labour to perform this work with cruel consequences to anyone who refused. There are estimated to have  been a million deaths and it has since been described as a genocide. Eventually the Belgians were forced to take over the colony themselves in 1910. This cruelty and indifference were factors that became endemic even after independence.

·         GDP per capita: $106 per year (2009)

·         Life expectancy: 48 years

·         Undernourished: 42 million people (2005 – 2007

DRC – Political Map

It currently has an estimated population of 101 million including 600,000 native peoples who have been in this region of central Africa for up to 70,000 years. The largest city and capital is Kinshasa with 12 million in an urban area of 600 km2. It stands on the Congo river at the head of the Congo navigation system from where a railway carries exports and brings in imports from the port of Matadi.  Other large regional centres also have in excess of 1 million including Kisangani with 1 million (surrounded by tropical rain forest), Bukavu in the east on the border with Rwanda and Lubumbashi in the south bordering Zambia.  Lubumbashi is part of the Copperbelt and much of the mined minerals passes through the Angolan port of Benguela via the Benguela railway. This railway also serves the mining areas of Zambia. Durban in South Africa is also a major port for the southern DRC.

It is a country of vast resources. Minerals include; copper, diamonds, cobalt, tin, coltan and many others. Its estimated that the value of known resources amounts to $24 trillion dollars and the DRC is responsible for 80% of the worlds cobalt supply. The DRC could be the Saudi Arabia of the EV age, possessing most of the worlds ‘coltan’ used in battery and mobile phone manufacture.

In 1960 it had the second largest industrialised economy in Africa only exceeded by South Africa. Since then a mixture of corruption, civil war, failing infrastructure and its sheer size and diversity has created a state with grand plans but major difficulties raising capital from anywhere in the world except China. The kleptocratic nature of government makes It difficult to negotiate with government at all levels of the state. The human development index(HDI)is very low – at 176 out of a total of 187. Apart from the standard of living and availability of jobs and housing, access to clean water and grid power are key indicators in the HDI index. The DRC fails on every one of them.

The vast rainforest (4 million km2) is comparable with the Amazon and creates a massive barrier between different parts of the country. It represents 13% of the whole of Africa (see picture below)  Traditionally the only means of transportation was the Congo river and its main tributaries the Kasai and Ubangi . The Ubangi is the main link with the Central African Republic while the Kasai links the capital , Kinshasa with the major mining area for diamonds, copper, cobalt and tin around Kolwezi and Lubumbashi in the South East. Indeed Lubumbashi has closer connections with Zambia and the Zambian copper belt than with its capital and transit through Matadi. Eastern Congo around Lake Kivu is closely integrated into east Africa and has close links with Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Transport links to Kisangani, the largest city in the east are with Mombasa and through Uganda and Kenya.

CONGO RIVER

When Europeans entered the Congo in the mid 19^th Century the Congo river was the main transport artery. During the Belgian colonial rule they operated a series of ferries that worked like a train service from Kisangani all the way to Kinshasa calling at each river port.  Direct ferries are now long gone as there are major problems with navigation. The river and ports need dredging and water hyacinth is a major problem blocking much of the river. Originally imported for the gardens of Belgian colonials it spread to streams and water courses blocking everything in its path. However if it was universally and efficiently cleared it would be a great source of biomass. Every form of life in the Congo rain forest is prolific although like in the Amazon illegal logging and deforestation because of a need for fuel for cooking has become common and is spreading across the rain forest.

The extent of the rain forest makes it difficult to build roads and railways across this vast country. The only major rail links are into Zambia and Benguela in Angola.  Poor and non existent roads make it difficult for other parts of the infrastructure. Power lines are confined to a few big cities and the cross country link to the mining areas in the south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzv82_-plqo  – a water lily clearance vessel

Below Kinshasa are a series of major waterfalls known as the Inga with an enormous potential for hydro electric power. The Belgians had examined the prospect in in 1910 but the first and second world war intervened. In the 1950 the Belgians saw the projects on the Nile and Zambezi and plans were put in place in 1958 but delayed because of independence in 1960. There are currently two dams on the Inga; first was opened in 1972 with a nominal capacity of 351 mw. Inga 2 dates from 1982 and its capacity is 1,424 MW. The combined capacity is 1,775MW but because of poor maintenance and disrepair only 700MW is currently available. Since the 1990’s there have been negotiations and discussions on INGA 3 with a capacity of 4500 MW adding significant capacity to the DRC grid power potential. Beyond INGA 3 there is a possible ING 4 taking up the rest of the Inga capacity and it totals 39 gW. There have agreements and discussions linking west Africa and even across the Sahara to the European grid because of the inability of the DRC to use all the power. Such a dam would be largest in the world at a cost of $80 billion. Additionally capital would be required to expand the grid and repair the  power line to the south (Inga Shaba ) which already already accounts for 25% of DRC national debt.

INGA DAMS ON THE CONGO RIVER

Since 2003 the South African power company, Eskom (7^th largest utility in the world) has wanted to do a joint venture to build Inga 3 so as  to cover their own shortages in capacity whereby they would take 3,500 mW while DRC uses the balance of 1,000 mW. The spread of power consumption in Africa is very uneven so further development at Inga could help spread of power more evenly but this only benefits ‘corporate Africa’ i.e the mining sector and the growing middle class in the large cities. The poor derive very little or no benefit.

Electrical Production in Africa

South Africa   230 tWhrs  26 gW  4,500 kWhrs per capita

Sub Saharan Africa (excluding SA)

                 170 tWhrs  19.4 gW  250 kWhrs per capita

North Africa   150 tWhrs 17.1 gW   1,000 kWhrs per capita

The DRC has a productive capacity of 9,033,000 gWhrs but this is just 2% of the DRC’s potential HEP capacity. But is it the best alternative for the DRC given the corruption and the difficulty of raising sufficient capital to just build INGA 3 ?

39 gW of HEP in Inga 4 compares with an estimated 70 gW of solar and 15 gW of wind located mainly in the SE of the country in the mining areas. There is 5 gW of wind and 5 gW of solar within 25kms of existing and planned transmission lines. The cost of producing the solar is only 7 us cents per kW hr compared with 8 us cents per kWhr from the Inga 3 dam as estimated by the World Bank.

In the SE the renewable energy has enormous potential from both private and commercial customers.

In the area around Kinshasa there is a further 6 gW of solar available at 7 us cents per kW hr. There is also sufficient for the rural areas around Kinshasa, Mbandaka on the Congo river and the main port of Matadi. It can even be exported over the river to Brazzaville.

Currently the DRC only has 2.5 gW installed and no early benefit from the Inga. However solar and wind is available now.

Build Times for Energy

Hydro Electric Power – At least 6 years for Inga 3

Wind farms within 3 years

Coventional solar power 1 year

Offgridinstaller UK solar power in a container in 4 months

Existing HEP could fill in the ‘gaps’ when solar is not available.

However offgrid power is essential in the rural areas and small towns across this vast country.

Even with new solar and wind DRC could only satisfy between 15 and 55% of total demand. This leaves between 45% and 85% needing offgrid power or 16 gW of installed solar capacity ! Same applies to clean water as only 23% have access.

Biblio

1)      International Rivers – consultants, Pretoria, South Africa. ‘The case for solar’

See: +27 768 423874 www.internationalrivers.org.  Contact Rudo Sanyanga

2)      Wikipedia entry on DRC

3)      Powerafrica – USAID in DRC

4)      Worldometer Congo DRC

5)      World Energy Council DRC

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