South Africans will pay for the costly electricity from DRC’s Inga 3 dam

12 Jul 2021

DRCONGO-SAFRICA-ENERGY-HYDRO — Aerial view taken on December 16, 2013 in Inga shows the Inga 1 dam and Inga Falls on the Congo river. The Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa vowed on October 16, 2015 to step up work on a massive new hydroelectric dam on the Congo River that could provide power to the entire continent. The Inga 3 Basse Chute project near Matadi would divert Congo River waters into a 12-kilometre (7.5-mile) channel and then pass them through a 100-metre-high (330-foot) hydropower dam in the Bundi Valley before releasing the water back into the river. The intake would be above the existing Inga 1 and Inga 2 dams, and the outflow downstream from both. (AFP PHOTO/MARC JOURDIER)

The government’s touted plans to procure power from the proposed Inga 3 hydroelectric dam project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would cost Es k om over R10-billion more a year compared to procuring the same energy from alternatives such as wind and solar, according to a new report.

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Sheree Bega

Sheree Bega is an environment reporter at the Mail & Guardian.

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South Africans will pay for the costly electricity from DRC’s Inga 3 dam

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