DRC - The essential electricity sector

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the countries with the least access to electricity. Most of its energy comes from the Inga 1 and 2 dams, which, like most of the country's hydroelectric facilities, need to be rehabilitated.

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Fewer than 191% of Congolese people had access to electricity in 2022. To date, only about forty hydroelectric plants with a capacity exceeding 50 kW are operational, while the country possesses a hydroelectric potential among the five largest in the world, at approximately 100 gigawatts. According to a World Bank estimate, maintaining the current rate of electrification means that 801% of the population will still be without access to the electricity grid by 2030. This situation is exacerbated by the state of the distribution network, which is deteriorated or nonexistent in a large part of the country.

Despite its reliance on hydroelectric resources, the country offers ideal conditions for large-scale solar energy development. Congo lies within a zone of very high solar irradiance, allowing for an average irradiance of 3.5 to 5.5 kWh/m² and potentially reaching up to 6.75 kWh/m².

In July 2022, the DRC's accession to the Regional Association of Energy Regulators of Eastern and Southern Africa (AREOFA) marked a significant milestone. It formally recognized the strengthening of the Electricity Sector Regulatory Authority (ARE). Established in 2016, the ARE strives to guarantee open and fair competition in the Congolese electricity market by implementing a robust and transparent regulatory framework.

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For the period from 2022 to 2025, $120 million in investment from technical and financial partners in the electricity sector was mobilized. According to the National Agency for Rural and Peri-urban Electrification and Energy Services (ANSER), part of this amount is earmarked for risk reduction mechanisms for the private sector. Other achievements include the adoption of local electrification plans by the various sectoral ministries and the alignment of donors and the private sector. The Agency also notes the mobilization of the private sector for the implementation of various Public-Private-Community (PPC) investment projects for 2022 and beyond, aimed at providing universal access to electricity, in line with the government's grassroots development program in 145 territories. Two hundred priority electrification projects are planned, with a total budget estimated at $300 million. 64 of these projects are already funded to the tune of $70 million through the allocation of the 2022 national budget under priority projects.

According to the Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI) report covering the period from July 2020 to the end of 2021, published by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the DRC is among the countries with the best regulated electricity sector on the continent.

Funded by the UK's FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office), the technical support provided by the Essor program will install the world's largest solar mini-grids in the DRC by 2023, radically changing the paradigm of the electricity sector there. This project is the first of its kind in the DRC, a country suffering from one of the lowest rates of access to electricity in the world.

In June 2021, the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity signed three concession contracts with an international consortium comprised of CDC GridWorks, Eranove, and AEE Power. These contracts aim to develop, finance, build, and operate the world's largest solar mini-grids in the northern cities of Bumba, Gemena, and Isiro. The installations, with a total estimated cost of $100 million, are expected to be commissioned in 2023 and will serve approximately half a million people. The signing of these contracts marks a turning point for the DRC's electricity market, paving the way for increased private investment in this strategic sector. Indeed, the growing regulation of the electricity sector could ultimately stimulate investment through the development of new infrastructure.