M a r k e t N e w s
South Africa to buy power from DRC s Inga Dam
Posted on : Monday , 29th September 2014
South Africa will be benefiting from power generated from a dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after the two sealed a purchase order for SA to buy electricity in six years time starting end of this month September.
In the agreement, it is expected that South Africa will play the role of a “reliable purchaser” in order to support the Grand Inga (Inga 3 dam) development in western DRC.
South Africa is experiencing an electricity shortage, and the government needs 2500MW to be supplied during the six phases of the whole Inga dam project.
According to the South African energy minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson last week, the country, in pursuing the deal, has put in place strategies to get enough power supply. He added that they could not wait to “wake up in 2020 and realize they need power.”
Congolese energy minister, Bruno Kalala, said that the deal is a mile stone in the development of the Inga 3 dam project and the country was looking forward to get “reliable purchaser” of the power from the project.
Once the Grand Inga dam power project is completed, it will be able to produce up to 40,000 MW of electricity, over twice the power generated from Three Gorges Dam in China, and more than a third of the total electricity currently produced in Africa.
Once completed, the dam will be the largest in DRC.
Source : www.constructionreviewonline.com
