- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Head of State, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, has launched the 600MW “Kinshasa Solar City” project in Menkao, a district located in the municipality of Maluku in Kinshasa.
- The first phase of 600MW has been awarded to Sun Plus, a subsidiary of the Angola based TSG (The Sandi Group), on a build, own, operate and transfer.
- Sun Plus has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the National Electricity Company (Snel).
Sun Plus plans to complete the first phase of the “Kinshasa Solar City” project within 1 year. The electricity generated by the future solar power plants will be fed into the grid of the state-owned utility Snel. Snel will purchase 100% of the electricity produced by the solar power plants at a set rate of $0.095 per kWh. This will significantly improve the public company’s electricity supply to the 14 million inhabitants of the capital Kinshasa.
Dr Rubar Sandi, MD of The Sandi Group (TSG) Global said, “I would like to thank the president for his involvement and his efforts to have accepted our expertise in Congo. This is therefore the first private investment since the president has been invested. And this is only the beginning.”
He pledged to have the power station online in less than a year, adding that 90 percent of employees at the plant would be Congolese.
“Our mission is to create jobs for the Congolese. This will help the Congo to rise; we want the Congo to rise to international levels. We are working with our partners to see how to improve the image of the Congo,” added Dr Sandi.
Exemptions, particularly on imports (customs duties and duties of any kind) are also provided for in the agreement signed between Sun Plus and the DRC government. The land that will house the various photovoltaic solar power plants will be offered for “free” to Sun Plus.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
