WSHPDR_2013_Final_Report-updated_version

1.2.4 Democratic Republic of the Congo
Roger Limoko Bosomba, Société Nationale
d'Électricité, Direction de l’Électrification Rurale,
Democratic Republic of Congo
Key facts
Population 73,599,190 1
Area 2,345,000 km²
Climate Tropical; hot and humid in equatorial
river basin; cooler and drier in
southern highlands; cooler and wetter
in eastern highlands; north of Equator.
Wet season is from April to October,
dry season is from December to
February; south of Equator. Wet
season is from November to March,
dry season is from April to October.
Temperatures range from 25°C to
37°C
Topography Large Congo River basin in the centre
of the country covered by equatorial
rain-forest. The whole land is
forested, more or less thickly. There
are plains and slopes in the west, hills
in the north and south and mountains
in the east.
Rain
Pattern
Frequent rainfalls throughout the year
over the whole country. Average
annual rainfall is 1,200 mm, with the
heaviest rains in November and
December.
Electricity overview
The country has oil, gas and uranium reserves.
Electrification is essentially based on large hydropower
plants, with the most important site being Site
d’Inga in the South-West of the country (figure 1). It
alone already contains an assessed total of 44 GW.
The Inga site includes large hydropower plants Inga I
(351 MW installed capacity; 2.4 TWh/year electricity
production; built in 1972) and Inga II (installed
capacity of 1,424 MW; 10.4 TWh/year electricity
production; built in 1982). Two more projects at the
same site are under consideration: in the medium
term Inga III (3,500 MW) and in the long term Grand
Inga Scheme (39,000 MW). 3 Furthermore, there is an
on-going rehabilitation programme for Inga II.
The electrification rate is 11.1 per cent with 58.7
million people without access to electricity. 2 A Rural
Electrification Programme was launched in 2004 and it
aims to stabilize the rural population and to reduce
rural exodus 3 The programme should benefit 80,000
identified communities (100-500 kW/centre) as well
as contribute to the reliability, restoration and
extension of the national grid. It will also enable the
export of excess electricity for financing some national
electrification projects. But until now, the programme
has not properly started. No financial support has
been made available to Société Nationale d'Électricité
(SNEL) - the state-owned electricity utility in charge of
power generation, transmission and distribution - to
materialize any project. As a result, SNEL has only
been able to achieve one-seventh of the
electrification target.
The electricity sector is liberalized and some private
companies produce and sell electricity to consumers
(Société d'électrification du Nord Kivu with 2 MW in
Butembo, and Électricité du Congo (EDC) generating
1.2 to 9 MW in Tshikapa). There are also some autoproducers
who generate electricity for their own use 3
It is difficult to estimate the installed capacity of
hydropower in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
SNEL and its facilities, i.e. the State, represent 99 per
cent of the installed capacity.
The Ministry of Energy is in charge of the energy
sector and potable water. It defines the national
energy policy. There is no independent regulator in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The problem of
involving the private sector in the electricity supply
industry is the main concern of the Government. It is
hoped that the legal and regulatory framework will
soon be defined. There is one division within the
Ministry of Energy in charge of Rural Electrification,
which works with the Rural Electrification cell of
SNEL. 3
Table 1
Installed power capacity in the Democratic Republic
of Congo
Year 2005 a
Year 2010 b
Installed capacity (total) 2436.90 MW 2 442 MW
- Hydro 2418.30 MW
- Thermo 18.60 MW ..
Gross production (total) 7 193 484 MWh 7 518 GWh
- Hydro 7 186 523 MWh 7 509 GWh
- Thermo 6 961 MWh ..
Net production (total) 7 178 253 MWh ..
- Hydro 7 171 441 MWh
- Thermo 6 812 MWh ..
Energy sold
5 741 926 MWh
Sources:
a. Limoko, and Bampufu 4
b. Trading Economics 5
Note: Based on the public works SNEL.
Oil
Natural Gas
Hydropower
0.2%
0.4%
99.4%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 1 Electricity generation in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Source: Trading Economics 5
Small hydropower sector overview and potential
The gross theoretical hydropower potential is 1,397
TWh/year (evaluated in 1997). The total technical
hydropower potential for the country is around
75