Mobile energy storage power supply in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the AC, Democratic Republic of the Congo supports an economy six-times larger than today's with only 35% more energy by diversifying its energy mix away from one that is 95% dependent on bioenergy.

Almost all electricity generation today comes from hydropower and the Inga project has the potential to provide much more. If network constraints are addressed, Democratic Republic of the Congo could become an electricity exporter.

The main priority for the Democratic Republic of Congo's power sector is to increase access to electricity. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a large country with 10 million households of which 1.6 million have access to electricity. This makes it the third largest population in the world without access to electricity.

The main existing solar project in the DRC is a 1MW solar mini-grid with 3MWh of battery storage capacity built by Enerdeal and Congo Energy in the city of Manono, to supply the local population and SMEs. Enerkac has also developed a 1MW hybrid plant powering SNEL's Kananga mini-grid in Kasaï Central (non operational in 2019).

To better understand present and future electricity demand in the DRC, a concerted effort by public agencies and donors, under the leadership of the Ministry of Energy and Hydraulic Resources to collect better data will be needed, as will a flexible approach to quickly factor evolving demand growth.

This makes it the third largest population in the world without access to electricity. If electrification efforts follow the same pace as during the last decade, 84 million people – or 80% of total population – will still live without electricity in the DRC by 2030.