AfrElec: Zambia, DR Congo revive plans for $4bn hydroelectric power project

Zambia and its northwestern neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), have signed a memorandum of understanding to revive the 1,188-MW Luapula River hydropower generation project and the Kolwezi/ Solwezi transmission line.

The MoU was signed in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, by the country's energy minister, Peter Kapalaand, and his Congolese counterpart, Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity Olivier Mwenze Mukaleng, the Lusaka Times of Zambia reports.  

The Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation and the DRC’s SNEL will execute the project on the Luapula River basin, a section of the Congo River, Africa’s second-longest, which will include a 1,188-MW hydropower plant. 

The Congo River, with its basin straddling the Equator, offers the DRC an exploitable energy potential estimated at 100,000 MW, about 37% of the total African potential and nearly 6% of global potential. The Grand INGA Dam has the potential to produce 39,000 MW.

The project will also involve the construction of a 330-kV transmission line from Solwezi in Zambia to Kolwezi in the DRC, according to the Lusaka Times.