BLOGS

In the westernmost reaches of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo River’s 96-metre plunge over the thundering cataracts of the Inga Falls drives two decades-old hydro-electric power plants.  

Completed in the 1970s and 80s, the Inga Dams have provided most of the nation’s sporadic electricity supply through decades of political upheaval and violence, even while proving resistant to multiple attempts at sustainable rehabilitation.

Given the state of the facilities – defective turbines and intake blockages have repeatedly decimated generating capacity – hopes years ago turned to a potential 11,000 MW third facility, Inga III, which the government hopes could one day take pride of place in a series of Congo River dams producing some 40,000 MW of power.

Like most large-scale infrastructure projects dreamed up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, things have not gone smoothly. In January, Spanish consortium leader Actividades de Construcción y Servicios withdrew from the $14bn project after failing to agree on how to proceed to construction with partner China Three Gorges. ACS’s withdrawal is just the latest setback to a project marred by accusations of political interference, the 2016 suspension of World Bank funding and the squabbling of commercial partners.  

Despite decades of failure, the thwarted potential of the Inga Dams is clear for all to see. A successful project would allow the DRC to harness the renewable potential of one of its greatest natural assets – the mighty Congo, Africa’s second largest river – in the service of transformative national development. Electricity is earmarked for the country’s mining sector, wider population and valuable export to South Africa.

Despite myriad challenges, Africa’s uptake of renewable energy is belatedly moving in the right direction. Given that around 600m citizens across Africa lack power, the need for solutions is urgent. Investment in renewables on the continent is growing fast, according to Bloomberg NEF, which says that 18 countries received more than $10m in clean energy funding in 2018, after 23 did so in 2017. Only 12 countries received that much annually in the prior decade. 

The trend is largely driven by solar, with a large pipeline of projects amounting to 1.2 GW expected to come online in 2021 outside South Africa, over double the amount commissioned in 2018. With the right policy framework and investment, Africa could meet a quarter of its indigenous energy needs through renewable sources by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. 

“Africa’s got a unique endowment of renewable energy resources – it’s probably second to none when it comes to that,” says João Duarte Cunha, manager of renewable energy initiatives at the African Development Bank. 

“Some parts of Africa have the best solar resources in the world – mainly the Sahel and Southern Africa. You have geothermal in East Africa, wind in East and West, and hydro in large parts of the continent. So there’s no excuse really – it’s mainly technical and financial issues that stand in the way of deployment.”