The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has launched the construction of a 600-MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Menkao, a district located in Kinshasa. The construction of the Kinshasa Solar City project is being carried out by Sun Plus, a subsidiary of The Sandi Group, under a build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) basis.
The electricity generated by the future Kinshasa Solar City power plant will be fed into the grid of the state-owned utility, National Electricity Company (Snel). According to the authorities of the DRC, Snel will purchase 100% of the electricity produced by the solar power plant at a set rate of $0.095 per kWh as per a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed by the two entities.
Commenting on the project, Dr. Rubar Sandi, who is the Managing Director of TSG, thanked the central African country president for believing in the company’s expertise in this particular field and guaranteed to have the power station online in less than a year.
According to Sandi, the project is to boost the economy of the country through the creation of jobs for Congolese during and after the construction works, as the TSG’s workforce represents only 10% of the necessary personnel.
The project was conceived by Sun Plus in partnership with the city of Kinshasa and power utility SNEL and it is expected to be extended to a capacity of 1,000 MWp in the near future.