The Western Power Corridor Company (Westcor), a joint venture between five African utilities namely, SNEL (Democratic Republic of Congo), ENE (Angola), Nampower (Namibia), BPC (Botswana), and Eskom (South Africa) announced that progress has been made on the project which aims to bring hydropower to the region.
The JV reported that the pre-feasibility study for the Inga Three hydropower project has been completed and that the next phase is being planned. Westcor will now begin to appoint a myriad of engineering, environment, and construction contractors, as well as legal, risk, and financial consultants to get underway.
The Westcor project intends to harness the hydroelectric energy of the Congo River at the Inga rapids site located some 225 km downstream from Kinshasa in the DRC. Westcor initially also had plans to engineer the hydroelectric potential of the Kwanza Basin in northern Angola.
The JV aims to begin construction on the 4,300 MW baseload capacity station within the next 18-24 months. When complete, the Inga Three will become Africa’s largest power station.