Off-grid cities of Gemena, Bumba and Isiro in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will soon become home to a $100 million hybrid solar, storage and diesel power generation project with 14 MW, 40 MWh and 4 MW capacity respectively. And this is the initial capacity envisaged by Moyi Power that's tasked with bringing it online.
Moyi Power, where Moyi in local Lingala language means sun, plans to connect over 23,000 residential and commercial customers to consume power from this hybrid project over the initial 5 years. Thereafter, every 3 to 5 years Moyi Power expects the capacity to double its size.
All this power will be developed, built and operated by 3 large scale, solar-hybrid, off-grid utilities that will be branded as Moyi Power.
It will be a result of 3 concession agreements for 22 years, signed between the Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity and the consortium of UK's CDC owned Gridworks, African utility Eranove and Spanish power developer AEE Power.
The trio won the project under a competitive process for the Essor Access to Energy (A2E) Initiative conducted by the ministry with UK government funding. It is aimed at creating local green jobs, and lead to improvement in health and education with the help of building solar powered infrastructure to supply reliable and affordable electricity.
"In serving these three cities, Moyi Power has the critical mass and regulatory support that is missing from most mini-grid models. It can set an example to the off-grid industry, pushing down costs for consumers and attracting long-term capital from investors," said Gridworks' Chief Executive Simon Hodson.
Project partners expect 14 months for development and financing process to complete, post which construction will complete in another 18 months on the 3 plants and associated distribution networks.