The government of Tshopo province in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recently signed an agreement with the company Cat Projects Africa to develop a 40MW solar power plant near the provincial capital Kisangani.
According to Cat Projects, the photovoltaic solar power plant will be built on 65.5 hectares of land. It will consist of 155,000 solar panels that will be connected to 72 solar inverters that will use 36 transformers to feed the electricity produced into the National Electricity Corporation (Snel) grid.
Louis-Marie Wale Lufungula, the Governor of Tsopo Province has lauded the construction of a Kisangani solar photovoltaic power plant and said it will mark the beginning of the end of darkness in our province, particularly in the city of Kisangani. At the end of a year of work, the city will be fully serviced with electricity and many other projects will see the light of day.
Also Read:4MW of solar power to be connected to the national grid in Uganda
Acquisition of the construction equipment
According to Cat Projects Africa, the acquisition of the construction equipment for the Kisangani solar photovoltaic plant will take another four months. The construction work will last nine months.
The success of this project will be crucial for Tsopo Province, which depends on a 12 MW hydroelectric power plant built at the falls on the Tsopo River for its electricity supply. The new park will be one of the largest solar power plants in the DRC, which also relies more on hydroelectric power plants for its electricity production.
The exploitation of other renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, is still in its infancy. The country will now focus on solar energy as this sector is supported by development partners.
