Central African officials and donors met in Lisbon yesterday to co-ordinate a strategy to develop the multi-billion dollar Inga valley hydroelectric resource in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Two parallel projects are under way: Inga 3, to generate 3,500-4,300 megawatts, for which BHP Billiton has been identified as the anchor investor, and the much bigger Grand Inga scheme, which could generate some 39-45 gigawatts – enough to power large swathes of Africa – once very high voltage transmission lines are built to take electricity from the site in Bas Congo.
A timetable for rallying donor support for Grand Inga is falling into place, African Development Bank (AfDB) vice president Bobby Pitman told a seminar.
“This is the biggest opportunity for the continent and we in the development community haven’t done enough to make it happen, we need to take more risks,” he said. Once the complex project’s shape has been hammered out “we can bring a package to the DRC government”.
Project costs will be huge. DRC Finance Minister Matata Ponyo cited a government estimate of $22.1 billion spending required in the period to 2025.
Emile Marquis of consultants RSW International said developing the full 40 gigawatts could cost $50-100 billion. “But this can be done, we need to have competitive costs for each phase of the development scheme.”
RSW and EDF Group, consultants on an AfDB-funded study, started work in March, and in late May presented their initial thoughts at a meeting in Kinshasa. They expect to be able to “present the optimal development strategy” at a workshop this autumn.
Political decisions will be as important as technical and financial considerations in making Grand Inga work, Pitman said. Key customers such as South Africa’s Eskom and Nigerian buyers have to agree firm deals.
International impetus is building behind the scheme. “The French government is being very proactive and is asking whether Inga can be placed on the agenda of the G20 summit,” Pitman revealed.
Find a solution to exploit Inga “will require come serious creative thinking on project structure... We have to kick over the chessboard and start again” to make it happen. The G20 could bring western governments, funders and the Chinese around the same table.
Grand Inga has suffered a series of false dawns and the two existing units, Inga 1 and 2, are operating well below capacity. DRC has only 2,500 megawatts of installed power capacity according to data from the DRC Energy Ministry, but despite efforts to upgrade infrastructure only 1,200 megawatts is actually being generated.
Plans to build Inga 3 have been consistently delayed but DRC “is looking for a developer with that operation under way”, Ponyo said.
Critics say years of effort to get Inga mega-schemes off the ground have distracted attention from other projects in the region that might have been built.
But Huub Cornelissen energy and housing director and Dutch development bank FMO, told Emerging Markets: “Inga makes sense because it’s such a huge project that really can produce a lot of power, and which will have minimal environmental impact. But it will take a long time and has to be developed in sensible stages.”