Trafigura Group and partners have agreed to build a $300 million high-voltage transmission line linking Zambia’s power grid to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s copperbelt. The Strategic Investment Fund of the DRC, electricity trader En Power and British International Investment Plc’s Gridworks Development Partners LLP plan to invest equity in the Kalumbila–Kolwezi Interconnector Project, according to a joint statement. Trafigura has agreed to arrange a “significant share” of the debt financing.
The 200-kilometer KKIP link will enable imports of up to 700 megawatts to Congo’s mining and industrial centers in Katanga and strengthen its connection to the Southern African Power Pool. The design allows capacity be increased to over a gigawatt. The project will also link to a substation on First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Sentinel mine property in Kalumbila. Zambia’s regulator approved the project last year.
Interest in connecting excess power supply to places lacking electricity is growing in African nations, especially in mining areas where power is largely supplied by diesel generators. Projects have attracted trading houses looking for opportunities from selling electricity to gaining access to critical minerals.
“Zambia and the DRC both stand to benefit from closer interconnection, and this project will give the copperbelt access to reliable, competitively priced power and lay the foundation for further cross-border transmission investment,” Gridworks Chief Executive Officer Chris Flavin said in the statement. “While the project is anchored by mining offtake, there is capacity on the line to serve the wider population.”
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing