The DRC’s Copperbelt mining region is powering up with a newly inked deal to finance, build and operate the 200 km Kalumbila-Kolwezi Interconnector Project (KKIP).
It is envisaged that the project will strengthen the DRC’s connection to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), reports Engineering News.
A strategic framework agreement for the US$300 million project has been signed by the Strategic Investment Fund of the DRC (FIS-RDC), Enterprise Power DRC (EnPower), Trafigura and Gridworks Development Partners. All necessary licences, concessions and authorisations have reportedly been secured.
According to a Reuters report, miners in the DRC’s Copperbelt region could save about US$1 billion a year by tapping into the KKIP instead of using diesel generators.
Britain-backed investor Gridworks Development Partners will act as lead equity investor and majority shareholder in the project, working with the DRC’s state investment fund, FIS-RDC, Congolese power trader EnPower and Singapore-based Trafigura.
The high-voltage interconnector line will stretch from Kalumbila in Zambia’s North West province to Kolwezi in Lualaba Province in southeastern DRC.
The project is expected to supply550 MW into the mining region, which is battling a deficit of more than 1 GW. The DRC is the continent’s biggest copper producer and second-biggest in the world; however its power shortages is constraining mine expansion.
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‘You cannot significantly expand copper and cobalt production, refining, or local beneficiation without reliable power,’ Herve Otschudi, Trafigura’s Congo head, told Reuters.
